Last Week Tonight with John OliverThe latest deep dive into the news includes President Joe Biden’s border policy, including what he promised on the campaign trail, the status he inherited from former President Donald Trump, and what he’s done and not done since being sworn in.
As Oliver points out, Trump has left to Biden tough, xenophobic immigration policies, such as Title 42, which “allows the United States to expel immigrants from the country with horrific ease,” Oliver explains.
Title 42 is a public health order intended to limit the spread of infectious disease. The Trump administration invoked Title 42 in March 2020, saying it was a safety precaution to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, as Oliver points out, Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller suggested using Address 42 long before COVID-19.
During the campaign, Biden promised to roll back Trump’s harmful immigration policies. However, Oliver reveals how Title 42 is still in effect — and how Biden expanded it. And while the Biden administration has offered humanitarian exemptions to immigrants and asylum seekers, those exemptions make up only a fraction of those gathered at the US southern border.
Oliver also covers racial double standards for those granted asylum in the United States, as well as several issues with the government’s CBP One app, where people can request Title 42 waivers. The app works on a lottery system, so available meetings fill up within minutes, leaving The vast majority of immigrants are in limbo. This lottery system has led to the app being dubbed “Asylum Ticketmaster” — a terrifying notion, Oliver says, because of “how bad Ticketmaster is.”
“Immigrants will continue to seek asylum in this country, because they have every legal right to do so,” Oliver concludes. “And we need to make a decision, whether we are comfortable with continuing to leave so many of them in squalor and peril on the frontier, or whether we are willing at last to fulfill our nation’s promise of safer life and hope in a free country.”
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver It airs Sunday nights on HBO and streams on HBO Max. (Opens in a new tab)