Washington, D.C.—CWS today expressed its concern and alarm over a recent Reuters’ report detailing the Biden administration’s consideration of permanent asylum restrictions in exchange for aid to Ukraine and Israel. If accepted, these proposals would severely restrict access to asylum and gut vital pathways to protection for those fleeing violence and persecution, threatening the lives of the most vulnerable among us, separating families, and violating the core of our nation’s values.
The immoral policies under consideration include overburdensome asylum screening standards, the implementation of a permanent transit ban, a cap on asylum protections, and the dramatic expansion of expedited removals. These provisions serve only to cause harm and devastate vulnerable communities, and do nothing to make the asylum process more humane, efficient, or effective.
“The proposals we are seeing in these negotiations are, at their core, extreme, anti-immigrant, and anti-family,” said Erol Kekic, Senior Vice President for Programs at CWS. “They are not only morally repugnant, but also in direct violation of international law. If enacted, these restrictions will undoubtedly return families and asylum seekers to the very danger they fled. To trade the rights of some vulnerable groups for the persecution of others is as inhumane as much of the Trump administration’s years-long campaign against immigrants and newcomers; people are not political pawns, and their basic human rights are not chips to be traded. The Biden administration must reject the framework at hand, and commit to protecting the rights of those seeking safety at our borders.”
CWS wholeheartedly rejects any and all proposals that would undermine asylum seekers’ ability to find a safe place to call home. There are real funding needs that Congress and the administration must work together to address, including replenishing life-saving refugee accounts and restoring services to arriving Afghan and Ukrainian humanitarian parolees. But the inclusion of the asylum policy restrictions under consideration would tarnish any deal they are a part of. Such a step puts our country on the wrong side of history, unconscionably causing irreparable damage and harm to those who are most in need.
To learn more, or to speak to Kekic, contact us at media@cwsglobal.org