By Jennifer Doherty

Law360 (May 20, 2021, 6:46 PM EDT) -- The United Nations High Commission for Refugees published a statement by its leader on Thursday calling on the Biden administration to end a public health order that allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants arriving at U.S. land borders.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the order — known as Title 42, after the public health statute in which it is based — last year, with the stated goal of reducing the spread of COVID-19 within the U.S.

"I appeal to the government of the United States to swiftly lift the public health-related asylum restrictions that remain in effect at the border and to restore access to asylum for the people whose lives depend on it, in line with international legal and human rights obligations," the statement attributed to High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi begins.

Grandi acknowledged the adjustments to the program at the end of 2020 and this year that allowed unaccompanied minors and some families to enter the U.S., but, he added, more is needed to bring the U.S. in line with its international humanitarian obligations.

"A system which allows a small number of asylum-seekers to be admitted daily, however, carries with it a number of risks, and is not an adequate response," Grandi said in an apparent reference to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Tuesday announcement that it will begin allowing up to 250 "particularly vulnerable individuals" to enter the country each day.

"Guaranteed access to safe territory and the prohibition of pushbacks of asylum-seekers are core precepts of the 1951 Refugee Convention and refugee law, which governments are required to uphold to protect the rights and lives of refugees," Grandi continued. "The expulsions have also had serious humanitarian consequences in northern Mexico."

Grandi went on to say that other countries protected both public health and access to asylum during the pandemic through measures such as screening, testing and quarantines, calling the two responsibilities "fully compatible."

The statement came one day after the UNHCR published a release warning the international community against "exporting" asylum-seekers to third countries.

The U.S. engaged in the practice through its use of the Migrant Protection Protocols, which blocked asylum-seekers in Mexico for the duration of their case proceedings. Under Title 42, DHS has deposited nationals of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala there without processing the vast majority of asylum claims.

"Externalization simply shifts asylum responsibilities elsewhere and evades international obligations. Such practices undermine the rights of those seeking safety and protection, demonize and punish them and may put their lives at risk," UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Gillian Triggs said in Wednesday's release.

A number of human rights and immigrant advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, Al Otro Lado and the Southern Poverty Law Center, have called for an end to the Trump-era policy, which they accuse of using public health as a pretext for advancing the last administration's anti-immigrant agenda.

When asked for the department's response to Thursday's statement, a DHS representative quoted Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' remarks at the U.S. Senate hearing on unaccompanied minors at U.S.-Mexico border in an email to Law360.

"It's not a tool of immigration. It is a tool of public health. And therefore the use of Title 42 will be governed by the CDC's analysis of the public health imperative," Mayorkas said at the May 13 hearing.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

--Additional reporting by Alyssa Aquino. Editing by Steven Edelstone.

Update: This story has been updated with comment from DHS.

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