The fate of the federal Title 42 program delaying immigration at the U.S.-Mexican border remains uncertain. Tuesday night, the Biden administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to leave the program in place for another week, but ultimately reject a Republican effort to permanently keep the Trump-era order that the GOP president argued was needed to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
A coalition of Milwaukee groups is closely watching the issue, and gathered Tuesday for a news conference at city hall. Christine Neumann-Ortiz of Voces de la Frontera said her immigrants rights group has already been helping some people who have made it through the backlog at the border and are seeking asylum in the U.S.
Neumann-Ortiz urged local governments and the state to boost their immigration integration efforts.
"To provide more of the basic needs, including temporary housing, then long-term housing, legal support, medical care, helping people integrate into the schools, as well as identifying more sponsors who are willing to open their homes for three months," she said.
That's to house asylum seekers, while their case is pending.
Some Wisconsin Republicans have joined the conservative push to keep Title 42, arguing a surge of immigrants would occur without it, putting some U.S. residents and the immigrants themselves at risk.
