A U.S. federal judge ordered the Biden administration to lift Trump-era asylum restrictions that permit the government to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants who could be eligible for asylum.
Judge Emmet Sullivan for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that the measure, known as Title 42, was “arbitrary and capricious” and had been implemented in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Migrants have been expelled from the US more than 2.4m times since the rule took effect in March 2020, denying migrants rights to seek asylum under U.S. and international law on grounds of preventing the spread of Covid, reports the Guardian.
Human Rights First identified nearly 10,000 cases of kidnapping, torture, rape or other violent attacks on people blocked or expelled to Mexico under Title 42, during the Biden administration, reports CNN.
The decision will lead to a significant change in how the Biden administration manages what has been a record number of unauthorized border crossings, according to New York Times.
The Homeland Security Department late Tuesday filed for a five-week delay before the order went into effect to give officials time to prepare. Sullivan granted the five-week delay “with great reluctance”, yesterday, saying it would “enable the government to make preparations to implement” his ruling.
The Biden administration initially sought to end use of Title 42, but a federal judge blocked the effort. Last month the U.S. announced the policy would apply to Venezuelans, and subsequently used the rule to expel nearly 6,000 Venezuelan migrants in October
More Migration
- Cuba said it will receive deportation flights from the United States again and that it is open to continuing dialogue with Washington. The agreement comes amid one of the largest migrations from Cuba to the U.S. in decades, notes the Associated Press.
Guatemala
- Guatemalan anti-corruption judge Miguel Angel Gálvez — who put former dictator José Efrain Ríos Montt on trial for genocide, as well as former president Otto Molina on corruption charges — resigned Tuesday, after accusing the judiciary of mismanagement. The judiciary is “manipulated,” he said in a video published on social media, and it no longer guarantees due process rights. (Reuters, Associated Press)
Colombia
- A new InSight Crime investigation exposes gender-based violence in Tibú, a Colombian town located on the border with Venezuela that serves as a drug trafficking corridor for several illegal armed groups. In 2021, at least 13 women were killed and dozens more were forced to flee the municipality amid one of the worst waves of violence ever seen in the area.
- Colombia’s economy depends on oil revenue — President Gustavo Petro says its an addition, and aims to phase out drilling, though details are scarce over how his government will make up the funding shortfall, reports the New York Times.
Honduras
- Honduran security forces violently evicted the Garifuna community in Roatán earlier this month, in defiance of legally recognized ancestral land rights. It’s the first removal of a Garifuna community under President Xiomara Castro, reports El Faro.
Regional Relations
- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s presence at COP27 last week “made leaders at the summit visibly uncomfortable and puzzled analysts,” reports the Guardian, which notes that he has “one of Latin America’s worst environmental and human rights records.”
Mexico
- Mexico’s government must clear up what role the armed forces played in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, said the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights this week, and that efforts by officials to cover up what happened to the students in the southwestern city of Iguala in September 2014 appeared to be part of a “structural pattern” of abuses in Mexico. (Reuters)
Argentina
- Argentina’s annual inflation surged last month to 88% over October from a year ago. (Bloomberg)
Culture Corner
- Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny is the top nominee at today’s Latin Grammy Awards, but he is merely the anchor of an explosive year for the genre, that this year was dominated by artists from around the region like singers Karol G, from Colombia, and Anitta, from Brazil; and regional Mexican bands like Grupo Firme — New York Times.
Jordana Timerman / Latin America Daily Briefing
http://latinamericadailybriefing.blogspot
