Washington, DC – Foreign Policy for America today released the following statement regarding the Biden-Harris Administration’s new policy restricting asylum access to the United States.
“Foreign Policy for America is deeply disappointed in the Biden-Harris Administration’s proposed policy aimed at restricting access for legal asylum seekers hoping to find refuge in the United States. This new rule would ban people from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they did not first try to do so in a country through which they traveled. Despite repeated promises to ‘reassert America’s commitment to asylum seekers and refugees,’ the Biden-Harris Administration has instead chosen to embrace the shameful policies of the prior administration — a decision that will further erode U.S. moral leadership and credibility on refugee policy and human rights. The right to seek asylum is enshrined in U.S. and international law and is not contingent upon where asylum-seekers are from, how they came to the U.S., or the path of their travel.
“The Administration cites the need for ‘safety’ and ‘order’ as drivers behind this new rule. But by blocking legal asylum seekers from entering the U.S., the Biden-Harris Administration is simply closing our doors to vulnerable women, children, and families fleeing violence and instability with terrible and all too predictable consequences.
“The Administration’s own initiative, the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, which was agreed upon by 21 regional governments, offers a clear structure for international protection and cooperation toward safer, more orderly regional migration and expanded access for refugees. This new rule is inherently antithetical to the spirit of the agreed upon framework and will certainly curtail access for refugees.
“This is yet another example of our country’s broken immigration system. We urge Congress to pursue and enact comprehensive reform legislation.”
###
