20 JAN 2023
ICYMI: Nearly 300 groups call on Biden to reverse ‘asylum ban’
WASHINGTON, DC – Led by Human Rights First, 292 civil rights, human rights, and advocacy groups, including UnidosUs, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, ACLU, MoveOn, Hispanic Federation, the Immigration Hub, and Amnesty International, signed a letter to the Biden Administration on Thursday urging administration officials to drop its proposed asylum ban. This ban, reminiscent of an asylum ban Trump attempted to implement, would deny asylum to migrants encountered along the border who transited through a third country without requesting protection or who entered between ports of entry. If implemented, this policy would undermine the Biden administration’s efforts to restore the nation’s asylum system and jeopardize the lives of desperate families seeking safety and refuge.
“We call on the Biden administration not to break your campaign promise to end restrictions on asylum seekers traveling through other countries. The Biden administration must adjust course immediately and abandon the misguided pursuit of an asylum ban…This announcement marks a full-throated embrace of policies initiated by the prior administration, which by your own description contravened our values and caused needless human suffering,” the letter says.
In case you missed it…
Politico | West Wing Playbook
By Sam Stein, Lauren Egan and Eli Stokols , January 19, 2023
CALLING ON THE ADMINISTRATION: A coalition of 292 advocacy groups sent a letter to the Biden administration urging for a reversal of an immigration policy that would deem some asylum seekers to be ineligible for entry, The Hill’s RAFAEL BERNAL reports. “Your administration’s announcement of plans to establish a presumption of asylum ineligibility for individuals who do not use ‘established pathways to lawful migration’ and do not apply for protection in countries of transit advances the agenda of the Trump administration, which repeatedly sought to impose similar asylum bans,” the groups wrote.
The Hill | Advocacy groups call on Biden to reverse ‘asylum ban’’
By Rafael Bernal
January 19, 2023
A broad array of civil rights, human rights and immigration advocacy groups led by Human Rights First is calling on the Biden administration to reverse its plan to couple a border crackdown with increased pathways to legal immigration.
In a letter to President Biden, 292 groups took aim specifically at what they call an “asylum ban,” whereby potential asylum-seekers could be made ineligible for entry into the United States by virtue of escaping dangers at home or on the migrant trail.
“Your administration’s announcement of plans to establish a presumption of asylum ineligibility for individuals who do not use ‘established pathways to lawful migration’ and do not apply for protection in countries of transit advances the agenda of the Trump administration, which repeatedly sought to impose similar asylum bans,” the groups wrote.
“Word-smithing, tweaks and spin do not change this reality.”
Under a Biden administration asylum plan released earlier this month, the United States is issuing up to 30,000 monthly entry permits to would-be asylum-seekers from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua.
In exchange, the Biden administration has said it will return to Mexico an equal number of migrants from those countries who are encountered at the border.
“While we welcome the limited, temporary legal pathways for some nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, such pathways are neither asylum nor a substitute for asylum, and they do not excuse the legal damage and human suffering that has and will be inflicted by asylum bans or other policies that seek to impose harmful consequences on people seeking this country’s protection,” the groups wrote.
To be eligible for the entry permits, migrants must apply from their current location, whether in their home country or in a third country; if migrants cross an international border before applying, they become ineligible for the program.
The administration is due to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to formalize the plan, a planning stage which advocates see as an opportunity to nip the policy in the bud.
“We urge you not to issue the NPRM on the asylum ban,” the groups wrote.
The advocacy groups — which include heavyweights like the American Civil Liberties Union, UnidosUS, CHIRLA and Community Change — claim that ineligibility runs counter both to the spirit of the asylum program and to Biden’s personal campaign pledges.
“We call on you not to break your campaign promise to end restrictions on asylum seekers traveling through other countries,” the groups wrote.
In his campaign pitch on immigration, Biden pilloried former President Trump over his “misguided policies” and said cross-border crime was fostered “because Trump has misallocated resources into bullying legitimate asylum seekers.”
And as president, Biden has often been critical of the Trump administration’s attempts to undermine the asylum system, while maintaining many of the border management policies enacted under Trump to bring the hammer down on crossings.
Still, the Biden administration’s proposal for Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan asylum-seekers is the first formal proposal to implement an asylum ban, also known as a “transit ban” or a “safe third country agreement.”
Advocates say such bans have rendered some legitimate asylum-seekers ineligible for protection and made the asylum process unnecessarily onerous for others, disproportionately affecting Black and indigenous migrants.
“For example, the asylum transit ban led the United States to deny asylum to a Cuban political activist persecuted for supporting an opposition movement, a Venezuelan journalist and her child, a student activist shot during a protest against the Nicaraguan government, and LGBTQ asylum seekers who had fled various countries where they are at risk of harm,” they wrote.
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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.