Washington, DC – Today the Biden administration announced its decision to reimplement and expand the so-called “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico” – a policy that forces asylum seekers to wait in dangerous conditions in Mexico for their asylum hearings in the United States. People of faith express righteous anger at this immoral decision that will continue to deny migrants their internationally recognized right to seek asylum. Faith advocates demand the Biden administration to permanently end Title 42 and MPP and create a just, humane, and welcoming asylum system.
“We are appalled that President Biden has not only restarted MPP but is expanding it to include Haitian nationals. MPP and policies such as Title 42 can never be just or humane,” said Ronnate Asirwatham, Director Government Relations, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. “We stand with immigrants and our partners providing services at the border and reiterate that meaningful access to counsel, justice, and due process under MPP is impossible and to even attempt it would make a mockery of U.S. laws and the tenets of our faith. We call on the Biden administration to end MPP and Title 42 and restore the ability to seek asylum at the border.”
“Haitians continue to suffer because of bad and racist policies that demean our shared history,” said Rev. Daniel Ulysse, General Secretary, Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association. “We demand justice and equality in this country that we have helped to make strong. As faith leaders, we remember President Biden’s promises to our community to end asylum-blocking policies, halt Haitian deportations, and stop supporting the current government of Haiti which is pushing Haitians to need to flee… We insist that the President likewise deliver on his promises made to end the cruel policies that continue to cause pain and separate families.”
“We can no longer afford half-measures or backsliding and the return of Remain in Mexico is a devastating step backwards,” said Dylan Corbett, Executive Director of the Hope Border Institute. “Now is the time to restore robust protections, address root causes and put in place forward-looking, humane systems that honor the rights of people on the move.”
“We are deeply disheartened and disturbed by the idea of MPP being reinstated,” said Susan Gunn, Director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. “This policy has had disastrous humanitarian consequences. Maryknoll missioners working at the U.S.-Mexico border have witnessed how this policy puts vulnerable people – including children – in grave danger. It has also contributed to the dismantling of the U.S. asylum system, which was created to guarantee the right of people fleeing violence and persecution to receive fair assessments of their political asylum claims. The Biden administration must follow through on its promises to end this cruel policy and restore the asylum system .”
“The restart and expansion of the “Remain in Mexico” policy is unconscionable. To say that this decision will cost lives is not exaggeration, but near fact. Thousands have already been victimized by this cruel and inhumane program, forced to exist in perilous circumstances or returned to the very danger they fled in the first place,” said Meredith Owen, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Church World Service. “With both Title 42 and MPP in place, mothers, fathers, and their children will be put at risk in Mexico, and thousands of Haitians will be expelled back to Haiti, despite widespread unrest and crisis in that country. The politics of exclusion and marginalization that this ill-conceived program was created under should not dictate a U.S. immigration policy. The Biden administration must reconsider immediately and instead, fully restore asylum.”
“With today’s announcement, the Biden Administration has taken a step back and chosen once again to continue upholding the inhumane and illegal Trump-era immigration policies that prevent asylum seekers from seeking protection and instead send them back to danger,” said Giulia McPherson, Director of Advocacy & Operations at Jesuit Refugee Service/USA. “There is no ‘better’ or ‘improved’ version of the Migrant Protection Protocols – better known as ‘Remain in Mexico.’ Instead of continuing to implement this harmful policy, the Biden Administration should make every effort to terminate MPP and transfer individuals currently enrolled in it to other dockets as soon as possible.”
“As Franciscans, we must always be in relationship with our migrant brothers and sisters,” said Franciscan Action Network’s Associate Director, Sr. Marie Lucey, OSF. “Franciscan Action Network is therefore extremely disappointed with the decision of the Biden administration to reimplement and expand the harmful MPP/Remain in Mexico policy. This decision shows neither understanding of nor compassion for the impact on asylum seekers. Our partners on the border know firsthand how this policy is a humanitarian disaster. We urge the Biden administration not to reinstate this inhumane policy.”
“We are deeply disheartened by and strongly oppose the Biden administration’s decision to restart and expand MPP, an inhumane policy that puts the lives of asylum seekers – already among the most vulnerable – in even greater jeopardy,” stated Barbara Weinstein, Director of the Reform Jewish Movement’s Commission on Social Action. “As a community descended from immigrants and refugees, with a long history of persecution and sojourning in foreign lands, American Jews are particularly sensitive to the plight of today’s immigrants. It is well past time to end the Remain in Mexico policy and affirm that our nation’s asylum policies are rooted in humanitarian and just principles.”
“Reinstating MPP is a stain on our nation,” said Anna Gallagher, CLINIC’s executive director. “It is a dangerous and deadly policy. As happened during its prior implementation, vulnerable men, women and children will suffer denigration, disrespect, assaults, rapes and murders. It is inhumane, unjust, and violates our obligations under our own legal system and international refugee law. Mr. President, we implore you to follow the Catholic values that form the foundation of your life-long public leadership of our country. It is time to draw on those values and prioritize the lives of the suffering men, women and children waiting at our border over politics. It is time that you do what is humane and stop MPP.”
“The restarted ‘Remain in Mexico’ program is a disaster for people who only want what we all want – safety and an opportunity to live their lives free from violence and persecution,” said Andrew Geibel, Policy Counsel at HIAS. “There is no ‘humane’ way to implement a program which places asylum seekers in danger and makes legal representation nearly impossible. The administration must reverse course, not use the court order as an excuse to expand the Remain in Mexico program, and work to legally re-end the program for good.”
“Reinstating and expanding ‘Remain in Mexico’ is deeply at odds with the call of the prophets to ‘deliver from the hand of the oppressor one who has been robbed, and do no wrong or violence to the resident alien’ (Jeremiah 22:3). It likewise is a stunning denial of decades-old humanitarian laws that have prioritized guiding star values of non-refoulement, humane protections, and safe and orderly processing for asylum seekers,” said Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea, Director of Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries. “We continue to seek a return to our nation’s moral commitment to protect human lives of migrants, by ending policies such as MPP and Title 42 that have constantly compounded dangers and traumas already endured by migrants.”
“We regret the Biden administration’s decision to reimplement the Migrant Protection Protocols. As organizations who sponsor dozens of migrant shelters in Mexico, we are convinced that MPP will subject thousands of migrant families to unnecessary pain and suffering. It does so by transferring the responsibility for protecting these vulnerable neighbors from the richest country on earth to impoverished communities and exhausted pastors and church members,” said Elket Rodríguez, Immigrants and Refugees Advocacy and Missions Specialist for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Executive Director of Fellowship Southwest. “MPP effectively un-welcomes our neighbors in contravention to Jesus’ heart in Matthew 25 and turns asylum seekers into easy prey for criminal organizations to kidnap and abuse. No good faith can justify adding to the struggles of those who are desperately seeking safety and asking for help, just like there is no way to make the inhumane, humane.”
“The return of Remain in Mexico is a moral travesty. We are deeply concerned about the consequences and inequitable impact on migrant children and families. Enforcing Remain in Mexico dangerously backslides on commitments by the Biden Administration to promote safe, orderly, and humane migration. We urge remedies, including terminating the Migrant Protection Protocols and ending Title 42, to restore asylum access. We hold that we need reliable, consistent, and sensitive implementation of policies concerning asylum seekers, through approaches that honor the human rights and dignity of migrants” said Giovana Oaxaca, Program Director for Migration Policy with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s AMMPARO program.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of over 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. Follow us on Twitter @interfaithimm
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