New asylum rule bars gays, lesbians facing persecution, immigrants threatened with violence

On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked implementation of Title 42, a policy that expelled more than 1 million asylum seekers at the nation’s southern border since March 2020 under the guise of public health concerns. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington D.C. found the Title 42 policy to be “arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.” As recently documented by Tahirih and Oxfam America in Surviving Deterrence, the policy was not only used to deter asylum-seeking but disproportionately harmed Black and Brown people and survivors of gender-based violence.