A union of Pennsylvania-based organizations, Free Migration Project, Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, CASA Pennsylvania, CAIR Pennsylvania, ACLU PA, along with immigration attorneys, made their voices heard at Independence Hall, Thursday, May 4, calling on President Joe Biden to end ICE contracts for the Karnes and Dilley Detention Centers in Texas, after news leaked the administration was contemplating a relaunch of the practice. 

News of the administration considering relaunching the practice of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally was first reported in March by the New York Times — despite Biden rejecting that same idea over the course of his term because he wanted a more humane immigration system, officials familiar with the discussions told the Times. 

“We are coming together yet again, to fight for something that shouldn't even have to be a fight. We are here together to send a message to President Biden,” said Jasmine Rivera, the Director of Civic Engagement of Pennsylvania Voice and board member of the Free Migration Project. 

“Next week on May 11, will be the end of title 42. And with that, the end of the state and Mexico program. There have been thousands of community members, families who have not been able to seek asylum here in the United States because of this unjust practice. And in preparation of the end of title 42, the Biden administration has been seriously considering putting families in prisons yet again,” she added. 

For the President, it’s a reaction to his failure – thus far – of addressing the U.S. and Mexico border situation with compassion, as he once said on the campaign trail. 

In stark comparison to his predecessor, who used the COVID-19 pandemic and turned it into a political-health-policy, Title 42, in which border authorities could reject any migrant seeking asylum under health guidelines. 

Instead, the administration has resorted to restrictive measures as a way of trying to get a handle on the rise of migrants making their way to the border. 

“I want to remind everyone, in 2020, President Biden, when he was a candidate, tweeted out that it was simple. Families should not be imprisoned. And that if he was elected president, he would make sure that there were no families in prison. We're going to continue to hold him to his campaign promises, and make sure that we do not go backwards. And that families stay together and stay free,” said Rivera. 

In the time since, it’s been legally and politically challenged, but Title-42 is set to expire next Thursday, May 11, and the administration and border officials are bracing for an influx of migrants once the court-ordered lift on the policy occurs. 

And Thursday’s rally comes in anticipation of possibly tens of thousands of migrant families being detained in these detention centers. Formerly incarcerated families from the recently-closed Berks County Detention Center in Pennsylvania, read out statements and spoke to the horrors of these facilities. 

“What does it mean for the future of our society that we can put children in cages? What does it mean for our nation that says it welcomes immigrants, and we can no longer have people peaceably seek asylum in our nation? We are here today to ensure that people can have the opportunity to do just that,” said Timothy Welbeck, an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University and a Civil Rights Attorney by training. 

With the historic shutdown of the Berks County Detention Center this year, following years of fighting, advocates suggested Biden — who is running for re-election — end the practice in the battleground state where he’ll need the state’s votes for victory. 

Despite some major economic and legislative wins in the last two-years, in the eyes of the large immigrant communities across the U.S., the administration has come up short on campaign promises meant to end Trump-era policies, and all the while, detention and deportation of immigrants have continued under his leadership. 

“It is a fact that the President is in the White House because of immigrant voters in America. Specifically, it is a fact that the President is in the White House because of immigrant voters in Pennsylvania,” said Andy Kang, Executive Director of Pennsylvania Immigration & Citizenship Coalition and Co-Chair of FIRM Action.

“Detaining immigrant families is a political red line. And there will be consequences next year, if the President and his people choose to go down this road. Any other leader who says they're from the immigrant community that says this is okay. They do not speak for the immigrant rights movement and they are not part of the immigrant rights movement,” he added. 

Kang cited one of the immigrants forced to leave his country recently. 

South Philly resident of 20-years, Christian M’Bagoyi, who was deported back to Angola sometime Wednesday morning, May 3, despite the appeals and over 11,000 petition signatures to Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and the pleas of more than a hundred people who rallied outside the city’s ICE office on Tuesday, leaving behind a wife and two children. 

“The President had the power to stop it. He is now in West Africa and not with us. There's a trend here that we're seeing with a President that he says he cares about families. Yet he just destroyed one that had over 10,000 petition signatures here in Philly. And now today, we're talking about them, the White House contemplating locking up families again,” Kang said.