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Immigration

Tell the Biden Administration Not to Bring Back Trump’s Asylum Ban


SUBMIT COMMENTS BY MARCH 27 HERE:

https://immigrationjustice.quorum.us/campaign/44910/


The Biden administration is taking comments from the public about its plan to bring back an asylum ban – a new version of one of the most anti-asylum seeker policies of the Trump era. 

Please use our form to submit a comment telling them how this policy will hurt asylum seekers. To make sure your comment is counted and considered, please edit our pre-drafted suggestion to make it unique. Anyone regardless of immigration status may submit a comment, but comments must be submitted in English. Please note that comments submitted through this form will be placed into the public record.

While the administration has attempted to distinguish its asylum ban from Trump’s policies, it still has the same effect: denying asylum seekers the protection they need in the United States. The rule they are proposing would ban many refugees from asylum protection in the United States  based on their manner of entry into the United States and transit through other countries.

This asylum ban, like Trump’s, will separate families and lead to the return of asylum seekers to harm and possible death. It will disproportionately harm Black, Brown, and Indigenous asylum seekers requesting safety at the U.S. southern border – who often cannot afford or access a visa to arrive in the U.S. by plane and instead trek across multiple countries to arrive at the border. While the Trump asylum ban was in effect, immigration court asylum denial rates for these groups greatly increased. Indigenous women and girls, many of whom will likely be barred by the rule, are at heightened risk for sex and human trafficking, extortion, and violence due to the continued erasure of their Indigenous identities, language exclusion, and ongoing discrimination they face throughout their journeys. 

Our U.S. laws and treaties protect asylum seekers and prohibit their return to persecution and torture. Our laws also explicitly guard an asylum seeker’s right to seek protection regardless of how they arrive in the United States. The rule would unlawfully deny protection to asylum seekers and require them to seek asylum in countries that do not have functional asylum systems and where they may still be in harm’s way.  

The administration is asking the public what we think about this rule and will consider our comments before issuing the final version. Please add your voice to tell them how this rule will harm asylum seekers. 

The government is required to review and respond to comments in writing in the Federal Register. For example, this rule published in September contains nearly 100 pages of the government’s anonymized summarizations and responses to comments submitted by the public, including descriptions of where they made changes to the rule in response to public comments. To make sure the government counts and considers your comment, please edit our pre-drafted suggestion to make it unique – duplicate comments will otherwise be lumped together and responded to as one. 

Please add your comment to tell them how this rule will harm asylum seekers before the comment period closes on March 27. 

The organizations sponsoring this campaign will not be adding email addresses submitted through the form to any mailing lists.

2 replies on “Tell the Biden Administration Not to Bring Back Trump’s Asylum Ban”

Stop the revival of the Trump-era asylum ban!

Remember:

1) First of all, seeking asylum is a legal right enshrined in U.S. and international law. Four decades ago, the U.S. Senate unanimously codified the protections of the Refugee Convention into federal law.

2) The Trump administration weaponized Section 265 of Title 42 to expel migrants seeking protection at the U.S. border; President Biden has continued to expel migrants under Title 42 and has even expanded its use. Under the Biden administration, human rights advocates have documented more than 10,000 attacks — some fatal, including kidnappings and serious assaults — on asylum seekers who were expelled or blocked in Mexico due to Title 42.

3) Despite previously campaigning on a promise to restore our asylum system and turn the page on Trump-era policies, President Biden is now planning to replace Title 42 with an asylum ban. A couple weeks ago, the Biden administration announced it would soon bar asylum for people who pass through any third country en route to the border and are unable to seek protection there first.

Put plainly, this new Biden policy is not only an attack on our laws and the U.S.’ commitment to welcoming people seeking refuge — it will force people back to the very dangers they fled, and in some cases, cost lives. This proposed ban is, at its core, Trump’s asylum ban under a different name.

President Biden made a promise to restore access to asylum, and we’re going to hold him to it. With your help, we can send a strong message that we will NOT stand for any attempts to dismantle our asylum system and put migrants in harm’s way.

Commenting is a way to use the mechanisms of democracy to make an important point and to weigh in. We should take advantage of the fact that they are asking us what we think.

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