CHICAGO – The Biden Administration on Wednesday announced that it would be expanding its use of Title 42 and begin returning Venezuelans seeking asylum at the border. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the U.S. and Mexico would create a new parole program requiring Venezuelans entering the country to have a sponsor living in the United States.

The Resurrection Project (TRP) is perturbed by the expansion of the use of section 265 of Title 42 to expulse any immigrant seeking asylum at the southern border. A humanitarian parole program that facilitates an orderly process for immigrants seeking asylum with credible fear is needed, but it must be implemented in a manner that allows any immigrant to apply without the need for sponsorship. Seeking asylum is a fundamental right that the United States should guard. Politicians on both sides of the aisle must stop using immigrants as political pawns and fix a solvable problem by enacting overall comprehensive immigration reform.

In Chicago and Illinois, immigrants contribute to our communities, towns, and cities; this is one of the many reasons why we have welcomed 3,000 asylum seekers with dignity since the first bus arrived at Chicago’s Union Station on August 31.