Right now, the Senate is once again considering legislation that imposes devastating, permanent restrictions on asylum and dramatically undermines the U.S.’s commitments to people fleeing persecution. On the evening of Sunday, May 19th, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that the Senate will vote on a bill (S. 4361) to severely curtail access to asylum that is similar to a proposal negotiated by a small group of Senators earlier this year.
The proposal includes a number of troubling provisions that would contribute to tremendous human suffering while failing to address challenges at the border:
- An expulsion authority that would allow a presidential administration to turn back arriving migrants before they ever have an opportunity to make their case for asylum. When in effect, the measure would shut down access to asylum in a manner akin to Title 42, the pandemic-era policy that was directly tied to at least 13,480 reports of acts of violence such as murder, kidnapping, rape, and torture against people seeking safety.
- A dramatic expansion in the use of expedited removal, detention and deportation that would deny many individuals the chance to apply for asylum before being summarily deported back to persecution, separate and detain families and place lives at risk. Immigration detention and expedited removal expansions are ineffective, costly, and ridden with human rights abuses and due process violations.
- Historically high levels of funding for immigration detention and the reinstatement of unused funds to restart Trump-era border wall construction.
In February, these same harmful asylum and border policies came as part of a broader package that also included military and humanitarian foreign assistance funding. That broader package garnered support from some Senate Democrats in large part due to the provisions supporting Ukraine. The bill under consideration now does not include military spending or meaningful humanitarian aid, so every vote that it receives represents support for cruel asylum restrictions.
The reemergence of these extreme and destructive policies in a standalone bill represents an attempt to score political points by backing restrictionist legislation that the Biden administration and Members of Congress have touted as a “tough” but “reasonable” compromise. Any support the legislation garners further risks normalizing harsh, restrictive measures by making its provisions more likely to appear as the starting point of future debates over immigration policy.
The bill also includes some needed measures, like critical funding for border reception and the Office of Refugee Resettlement and a clear path to permanent status for Afghans at risk. Trading certain necessary reforms for the wholesale dismantling of the nation’s asylum system is an abdication of our nation’s responsibility to protect people seeking safety. Further, by gutting asylum, the bill would harm the very populations that other provisions in the legislation purport to protect, such as Afghans arriving at the southern border.
Congress must reject tradeoffs that pit populations against one another and instead enact practical and actionable solutions like supporting migrant shelters and case management programming, promoting access to safe and affordable housing, removing barriers to work authorization, and robustly funding key accounts that ensure the successful integration of new arrivals.
With a Senate vote expected this week, join us in urging Congress to categorically reject the bill and instead focus on building strength and resilience into our nation’s welcoming infrastructure.
CONTACT YOUR TWO SENATORS TODAY
On the right hand side you can send an email to your members of Congress
Sample Script/Email: “My name is [insert name], and as your constituent from [City/Town] and a [person of faith/refugee/member of my community], I urge you to categorically reject the draconian asylum restrictions expected to come to a vote in the Senate this week (S. 4361), and to instead focus on needed funding and compassionate policy solutions that would expand our capacity to welcome. Specifically, I urge you to:
- Categorically reject the cruel and immoral anti-asylum bill. Drawn from a legislative package negotiated this winter that included military and humanitarian foreign assistance funding, the bill now under consideration does not include military spending or meaningful humanitarian aid, so every vote that it receives represents support for cruel asylum restrictions. The bill would codify a new legal authority that would allow – if certain conditions are met – the administration to end almost all access to asylum at the border. It also dramatically expands detention, deportations, and rapid asylum processes that leave due process in tatters and eliminates the opportunity for most asylum seekers to make a case for protection before an immigration judge. These punitive policies would lead to tremendous human suffering without improving the situation at the border.
- Refuse to pit one vulnerable population against another. This legislation includes needed funding for refugee services and provisions that would offer permanent and temporary protection to some populations, such as Afghans at risk. Trading support of certain populations for the wholesale dismantling of the asylum system is an abdication of our nation’s responsibility to protect people seeking safety. Further, by gutting asylum, the bill would harm the very populations that its other provisions purport to protect, like Afghans arriving at the southern border.
Asylum seekers must not be used as political pawns. Congress must continue to work together on legislation that preserves access to asylum and promotes needed investments and reforms to expand and strengthen humanitarian programs. To that end, I urge you to:
Support integration and self-sufficiency of newcomers.
- Robustly fund the Refugee and Entrant Assistance Account (REA), which supports the Office of Refugee Resettlement by funding core services such as job training, English language classes, services for unaccompanied children, and refugee school impact grants.
- Support Afghan allies by passing the Afghan Adjustment Act and retroactively authorizing certain Office of Refugee Resettlement benefits for Afghan humanitarian parolees who arrived after September 30th.
- For full funding recommendations, see: bit.ly/RCUSAFY24FundingNeeds
Support solutions that would meaningfully address challenges at the border.
- Improve and robustly fund the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), which supports recently-arrived asylum seekers and the communities working to welcome them.
- Support and expand the Case Management Pilot Program, which provides asylum seekers around the country with sustained, trauma-informed, community-based case management, including mental health care and legal orientation programming.
- Support legislation to remove barriers to work authorization. The House Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act (H.R. 1325) reduces the 180 day wait for eligibility to 30 days and makes it easier to renew and retain employment authorization documents (EADs).
I urge you to reject attempts to dismantle the right to seek safety in the U.S. and instead support policies and investments that build long-term strength and resilience into our nation’s welcoming infrastructure to promote the flourishing of newcomers and the communities that welcome them. Thank you.”
AMPLIFY ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Share this message with national leaders on social media! See below for sample social media posts and here for sample graphics.
@legislator: Don’t abdicate our nation’s moral responsibility to protect people seeking safety. VOTE NO on the border bill that would dismantle the U.S. asylum system.
@legislator Three ways you can invest in our capacity to welcome:
– Support overseas refugee assistance accounts
– Support funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement
– Support housing vouchers to promote access to safe, affordable housing.
@legislator it’s a fact: Refugees make our communities strong. It is critical for Congress to invest in welcoming programs that allow newcomers to integrate and thrive. #RefugeesWelcome
Additional Resources:
Analysis of Asylum Provisions
- National Immigrant Justice Center: Senate Supplemental Funding Bill is an Affront to Refugee Protection
- Evacuate Our Allies: Eviscerating Asylum Puts Afghans in Further Jeopardy
- Interfaith Immigration Coalition letter & statement
- Welcome with Dignity Statement Denouncing the Emergency Supplemental
- American Immigration Council Analysis: The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act (H. R. 815)
- Human Rights First Analysis of the Supplemental’s Asylum Provisions
- AILA Policy Brief: Analysis of the Border and Immigration Provisions of the “Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act”
- CWS Statement: Border Bill Would Pit the Persecuted Against the Persecuted – Benefiting Some, at the Expense of Moral Leadership
- AILA Policy Brief: The Credible Fear Standard
- Interfaith Immigration Letter Opposing Asylum Restrictions
- Human Rights First: Preserve Judicial Review of Asylum Decisions
- Manifesting Fear at the Border: Lessons from Title 42 Expulsions
Funding Priorities
- RCUSA Fiscal Year 2024 Refugee Funding Priorities
- RCUSA Post CR Appropriations Talking Points
- Housing Funding Priorities for FY 2024
- FY 2024 RCUSA Appropriations Oversight Bill & Report Language Requests
- Fiscal Year 2024 Defund Hate Funding Priorities
- Toolkit: Demystifying Federal Funding & Appropriations Advocacy for Refugees and Newcomers
Border Solutions