Nanette Barragán

No family should have to make this choice.

Title 42 is harming migrants, including those who are most vulnerable.

There is no justification for denying vulnerable migrants the legal right to seek asylum.

I would like to remind the committee that applying for asylum is legal under U.S. and international law.

Vulnerable migrants are fleeing gang violence and persecution in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, political persecution and violence in Nicaragua, and kidnapping and political turmoil in Haiti.

The United States has capacity to welcome asylum seekers and treat them with dignity.

The administration should ensure safe reception of people seeking asylum.

This discriminatory double standard must end.

The Biden administration must restore access and adjudicate asylum claims in a fair and timely manner.

Thank you for joining today's hearing to examine the administration's use of Title 42, its upcoming termination, and the need to restore access to asylum at the border.

I want to emphasize how important it is for Congress and for Federal law enforcement to aggressively investigate and prosecute hate crimes.

Let us be clear, these acts of intimidation are rooted in racism and bigotry, and they should outrage all of us.

This division on immigration is often based on misinformation and people who take facts and distort them and it is just very troubling.

What is legal in this country is to allow migrants to come to a port of entry... and to be allowed to be admitted into this country pending their court hearing.

In America, it is completely legal to head to America and to present yourself at a port of entry to claim asylum.

My point is that people are coming between ports of entry because right now, the border is closed and not allowing people to legally come and present themselves at a port of entry to claim asylum, which has been the law and the process.

This notion that the ports of entry are open, this notion that the border is open, is completely false.

I am hopeful for a positive outcome that will allow the termination of this terrible policy.

It is imperative that we conduct rigorous oversight of the Federal agencies.

It is disturbing to see the Department choose to expand a program it opposes.

I continue to have significant concerns about implementation.

I applauded when DHS officially terminated the Remain in Mexico policy.

I argue that more work needs to be done.

Under President Trump, there were more than 1,500 documented reports of kidnapping, torture, murder, rape, and assault.

Donald Trump's Remain in Mexico policy was inhumane.