Senator Cory Booker is accusing President Joe Biden of implementing “draconian immigration policies” in a letter calling on the White House to reverse Title 42, a barrier to entry for people infected with a contagious disease that was originally introduced under the Trump administration.
“Our country has a long history of inhumane treatment of Black migrants, which is particularly evident in the historic mistreatment of Haitians,” said Booker in a letter to Biden that was signed by 100 lawmakers.
This is not the first time Booker, who is African American, has accused Biden of showing a lack of understanding or insensitivity to minorities that makes him an accomplice to racial bigotry.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Booker said Biden “showed a lack of understanding or insensitivity” through his comments about working with two Southern segregationist senators.
The New Jersey senator also spent several weeks repeatedly criticizing Biden for his role in crafting the “tough on crime” 1994 crime law, which has been blamed for increasing the U.S. prison population.
“There are people right now in prison for life for drug offenses because you stood up and used that tough-on-crime phony rhetoric that got a lot of people elected but destroyed communities like mine,” said Booker in August 2019, referring to Newark, N.J.
“The reality is Joe and I actually bonded during the primaries,” Booker said later. “We had some exchanges, but they were always done with a sense of dignity, with not trying to tear down the character of the other person.
Booker was a leading sponsor of the First Step Act, which was enacted by President Donald Trump to roll back mandatory prison sentences required under Biden’s 1994 legislation.
In his recent letter, Booker raised some ugly history to suggest Biden is living in the past.
“In 1981, the United States began interdicting Haitian refugees in the high seas and over the course of the next decade sent some 25,000 asylum seekers back to an island suffering under the rule of brutal U.S.-backed dictatorships,” said Booker. “In 1991, the first Bush Administration opened a detention camp in Guantanamo Bay for over 300 HIV-positive Haitian men, women and children, including those who were possibly exposed to HIV/AIDS.”
“This policy was challenged in court and resulted in a settlement requiring the resettlement of those detained in the United States,” said Booker. “In 2011, even after Haiti was designated for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) following a catastrophic earthquake and a massive cholera epidemic, deportations to Haiti continued, leading to at least one death.”
“It is time to undo the United States’ draconian immigration policies, particularly policies introduced under the Trump administration, such as the use of Title 42, that circumvent our humanitarian obligations,” said Booker. “In addition to stopping removals to regions such as Haiti that face serious insecurity, we also urge you to take steps to address the systemic challenges Black migrants face to receiving equal treatment.”
“As a starting point, we recommend the Department of Homeland Security, in concert with the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), conduct a holistic review of the disparate treatment of Black migrants throughout our immigration system, make available to the public the results of this review and take steps to remedy disparities at each step of the immigration enforcement process,” said Booker. “It is essential that we recommit ourselves to reversing anti-Black policies, including by adopting a human-rights centered approach to supporting immigrants and people seeking asylum in the United States.”