Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC Condemns Anti-Asylum Executive Actions Issued During Immigrant Heritage Month
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Biden Administration announced new policies that would allow the government to rapidly expel asylum-seekers who cross between ports of entry, without individualized review, if border encounters meet a certain threshold. The new policy relies on the Immigration and Nationality Act sections 212(f) and 215(a), laws the Trump Administration used to implement the discriminatory Executive Order 13769, also known as the “Muslim Ban.”
Timing these new policies to coincide with Immigrant Heritage Month, observed in June, is also extremely troubling. Seeking asylum, including between ports of entry, is a human right written into international and domestic law. Restrictions on asylum are immoral, illegal, and ineffective, and will only harm those vulnerable populations that are seeking refuge here in the U.S.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC issues the following statement:
“We are deeply disappointed that President Biden has chosen to play politics with the lives of asylum-seekers during Immigrant Heritage Month. Over the past year, this administration has been all too willing to unilaterally implement various anti-asylum policies, whether it be an asylum ban or a recently proposed rule to stack the deck against recent arrivals seeking asylum. This most recent announcement is more evidence that the administration is willing to violate the rights of asylum-seekers if it is politically expedient.
“Deterrence is not a cogent immigration policy and simply harms those fleeing persecution and death. Deterrence policies did not work under the previous administration and will not work under this one. Instead, we need policies and laws that welcomes asylum-seekers and migrants, including a growing number of individuals and families from Asia, in a safe, humane, and orderly way.
“Ultimately, Congress is responsible for reforming our outdated and dysfunctional immigration laws. However, the inability of Congress to make meaningful reforms to our immigration laws does not excuse these recent attacks on asylum-seekers. As we uplift and acknowledge the contributions of immigrants to this country this Immigrant Heritage Month, President Biden can and must do better.”