WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing the deadly Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)/Remain in Mexico policy to continue for the time being, as the high court decides whether to take up the case. The development came today, in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and Southern Poverty Law Center against MPP. Previously, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the policy is illegal, and hundreds of people have been assaulted, kidnapped, and even murdered in Mexico due to MPP.
Congress must take charge, and block the administration’s dangerous asylum policies by cutting funding for anti-asylum policies and engaging in stringent oversight. Interfaith Immigration Coalition members also urge Congress to restore full asylum and refugee protections by passing the Refugee Protection Act and Asylum Seeker Protection Act. We need to recommit our country’s policies to welcoming the sojourner and reestablish America’s place as a beacon of hope in the world. Join the #Faith4Asylum campaign by signing the people’s pledge here: www.faith4asylum.com.
“The US Supreme Court’s decision to let the grossly misnamed ‘Migrant Protection Protocols’ remain in effect while the court challenge continues is yet another example of how much courts matter,” said Faith Williams, Associate Director of Government Relations and Advocacy at the National Council of Jewish Women, and co-chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition. “The Trump Administration has abdicated its duty to protect asylum seekers, and the highest court in the land is complicit in this tragedy.”
Rev. John L. McCullough, President and CEO of Church World Service, said: “Today’s decision from the U.S. Supreme Court puts human lives in danger. Forcing asylum seekers to return to unsafe conditions in Mexico flies in the face of the fundamental human right to seek safety. Because of the administration’s misguided policy, thousands have endured kidnappings, assault, robbery, rape, and in some cases even murder, all in sight of our doorstep. It is past time for this administration to stop demonizing and endangering people seeking protection, and return to the asylum system we know works and saves lives. We urge Congress to block the administration’s continued dismantling of the U.S. asylum system and pass the Refugee Protection Act, H.R.5210 and S.2936, which would restore and strengthen asylum protections.”
Senior Vice President of Public Affairs of HIAS, Melanie Nezer, said, “There is no reason why the United States cannot humanely, responsibly, and efficiently process the claims of people seeking asylum in our country. Instead of blocking families from exercising their fundamental right to seek safety, the U.S. should be strengthening our asylum system, funding lawyers and judges, and allowing asylum seekers to wait in safety in the U.S. while their asylum cases are pending. Guided by our Jewish values, HIAS remains committed to assisting asylum seekers along the Southern border, and will continue to advocate for a humane asylum system that prioritizes protection and ensures the dignity of individuals seeking safety.”
“AFSC is deeply disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision to allow this inhumane and dangerous policy to continue,” said Kristin Kumpf, Director of Human Migration and Mobility for the American Friends Service Committee. “This policy is a clear effort by the Trump Administration to stop people from exercising their right to seek asylum. We have a responsibility to welcome those fleeing persecution with open arms under the Constitution and international agreements.”
“Columbans welcomed the ruling of the Ninth Circuit of Appeals in California, ordering the Trump administration to end its illegal practice of forcing asylum seekers back to dangerous conditions in Mexico while they await their asylum proceedings,” said Scott Wright, Director of the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach. “We are saddened at the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the policy to continue for now. MPP contradicts U.S. and international refugee law, and directly violates the most fundamental moral principles of our faith: to protect the lives of vulnerable people. As direct witnesses, through our border ministries, to the enormous human suffering caused by the current administration’s gutting of the asylum system, Columbans call for the full restoration of all protections to asylum-seekers. ‘Remain in Mexico’ must be ended, permanently.”
Stephen Schneck, Executive Director of Franciscan Action Network, added: “Until recently, the U.S. was seen as a beacon of hope for people seeking safety from violence, death threats, and persecution in their own countries, but this administration cruelly shreds our asylum policy. Rather than honor their right to due process and having their cases heard, thousands of asylum seekers from Central America are turned back to Mexico where women and children are especially vulnerable to kidnapping, gang recruitment, and sexual or physical abuse. This is not the kind of country that our faith and U.S. American values challenge us to be. We Franciscans are ashamed of and angered by the Remain in Mexico policy.”
Ann Scholz, SSND, Associate Director for Social Mission of the LCWR, said: “We at the Leadership Conference of Women Religious are called by our faith to welcome the stranger and care for the most vulnerable, and challenged by our national values to offer protection to those fleeing violence and persecution. The Trump administration’s attack on asylum violates that faith and threatens those values.”
“The so-called MPP has already thrown thousands of people into harm’s way, placing their lives and safety at risk,” said Mike Givens, Associate Director of Strategic Communications at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. “It is a flagrant violation of our nation’s human rights commitments, and in the year since it went into effect, has already resulted in the death, persecution and torture of hundreds of our siblings, if not more. We pray that moral wisdom and truth will prevail in finally bringing this abhorrent policy to an end.”
Lawrence E. Couch, Director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, said: “During this time of Lent, we should be looking for ways to ease the discrimination and suffering of families and individuals who have journeyed far, and been treated so poorly by our government. This decision is the opposite approach.”
Said Trinidad Ariztia, Director for Policy Migration at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: “The ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy delivers children, their families, and other vulnerable individuals, like LGBTQIA+ people, to areas plagued by violence, where they are stranded in often inhumane and horrific conditions, and their human rights are violated because of their race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and status as migrants. We must continue the cry for justice towards our sister and brother migrants.”
Rev. Noel Andersen of the United Church of Christ National Collaborative on Immigration commented: “Our faith calls us to love our neighbor and to welcome asylum seekers. Hundreds of UCC congregations throughout the country are living out their faith by accompanying asylum seekers and we will continue to do so. The United Church of Christ believes that the inhumane and discriminatory ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy violates U.S. law by keeping asylum seekers with credible fear from being able to present themselves.”
Fast Facts on Asylum and MPP
U.S. POLICIES DANGEROUSLY AND ILLEGALLY RESTRICT ACCESS TO ASYLUM IN THE UNITED STATES.
- “In the almost three years since President Donald Trump took office, the US asylum system has almost become unrecognizable. The administration has built up, layer by layer, a series of impediments in Central America, at the border, in detention centers, and in the immigration courts that have made obtaining asylum nearly impossible.” (Source: Vox, November 2019)
- The asylum denial rate is growing. In recent years, 58% of asylum applications have been denied. In FY 2019, that number jumped to 69%. For individuals from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, the denial rate is 81%. (Source: TRAC, February 2020)
- At least 138 people deported to El Salvador were murdered and more than 70 were sexually abused, tortured, or disappeared. (Source: NBC News/Human Rights Watch, February 2020)
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN FORCING ASYLUM-SEEKERS TO REMAIN IN MEXICO AND RISK THEIR LIVES.
- Since the creation of the “Remain in Mexico” policy in January 2019, more than 57,000 people have been forced to wait in Mexico for asylum hearings in the United States. (Source: Human Rights First, January 2020)
- At least 816 asylum-seekers have been raped, kidnapped, assaulted, and even murdered in Mexico, including 201 children. (Source: Human Rights First, January 2020)
- Only 4% of individuals subjected to Remain Mexico have lawyers. Less than 1% have won their cases. (Source: NPR, December 2019).
- American Friends Service Committee writes: “Initially the MPP was only applied to single adults from Central America, but was quickly expanded to also include families regardless of their basis for seeking protection.” (Source: AFSC, January 2020)
- Many are homeless or living in unsanitary conditions. Organizations along the border are working tirelessly, with no government support, to try to meet their basic human needs.
THE GOVERNMENT HAS RECENTLY BEGUN DEPORTING ASYLUM-SEEKERS TO GUATEMALA AND FORCING THEM TO APPLY FOR PROTECTION THERE.
- This is part of a new Trump administration policy to require people to apply for asylum in countries of transit, before requesting protection from the United States. It is absurd on its face, because Guatemala itself is sending thousands of asylum-seekers to the United States. (Source: Texas Public Radio, February 2020)
For more, see these infographics from Latin America Working Group.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of 55 national, faith-based organizations brought together across many theological traditions with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual. In partnership, we work to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of all refugees and migrants.
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