Washington, DC – During a speech today on border security and enforcement, President Biden announced his plans to increase migration-deterrence efforts—including an expansion of Title 42 and a transit ban—further restricting access to asylum in the US. The President outlined measures that would allow a limited number of asylum-seeking migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba, and Haiti with ties to sponsors already in the US to obtain humanitarian parole—a program similar to that offered to some Venezuelans; those not eligible for the program would be immediately expelled under Title 42, in violation of the legal right to seek asylum.
While people of faith welcome the President’s words affirming the right to asylum, faith groups are deeply concerned that the overall effect of the policy changes will be barred access to asylum, with the administration replacing the US asylum system with Trump-era deterrence policies and a limited pathway to safety for a small group of more privileged migrants.
Faith groups across religious traditions share one of many common themes in our sacred texts: the divine call to welcome and offer refuge to vulnerable people forced to leave their homes. Religious groups, including many Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC) member organizations, have been some of the first to receive the asylum-seeking families and children that have fled to the US due to oppression and persecution in their countries of origin.
We strive to honor these core tenets of our faith traditions and our nation’s legal and moral responsibility to provide equitable access to asylum and safety—and we urge the Biden administration to do the same, without discrimination on the basis of nationality or prior connections to the US, and with an unequivocal commitment to end Title 42 expulsions and strengthen the US asylum system.
IIC member organizations issued the following statements:
“The expansion of Title 42 to include Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans is a broken promise,” said Dylan Corbett, Executive Director, Hope Border Institute. “Rather than putting our country on a sure path to fully restoring asylum at the border, these new actions by the Biden administration entrench a dangerous, ineffective, and inhumane policy where those in need of protection at the border are summarily expelled. The poor and vulnerable at our nation’s doorstep deserve more. Border communities will continue to work hard to pick up the broken pieces of our nation’s immigration system and show that our future lies not with expulsion and deportation, but with humanity and hope.”
“Today, President Biden announced additional enforcement actions which would further restrict the rights of migrants to seek asylum in the United States”, said Pedro Rios, Director of the US-Mexico Border Program for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). “The Administration is expanding the use of Title 42, which is an archaic public health order that empowers Border Patrol agents to expel migrants without recognizing their right to seek asylum under U.S. and international law, and further expedite their removal. We strongly believe that an enforcement approach in response to people seeking safety is misguided and cruel, and will only exacerbate the precarious conditions that endanger the lives of those seeking safe harbor. We urge the Biden administration to re-prioritize its approach by centering policies on the human rights of migrants seeking asylum in the United States.”
“We welcome President Biden’s words about ending prejudice against immigrants and his support for the organizations and border communities serving immigrants. However, we are deeply disappointed that the Biden administration continues to choose failed border policies over just, humane policies that welcome our neighbors seeking safety,” said Mary J. Novak, Executive Director, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. “While the courts have kept the Title 42 expulsion policy in place for now, they do not require the Biden administration to expand it, as announced by DHS today. It is unacceptable to pair what is in effect an asylum ban with a limited, inadequate, stop-gap measure like humanitarian parole. People have the right to seek asylum, regardless of their nationality. As people of faith, we are called to love our neighbor without distinction. Following today’s disappointing announcement of more expedited removals and a third-country transit ban, we commit to renewed advocacy for border policies that affirm every person’s inherent worth and dignity and uphold their human rights.”
“We appreciate the Biden administration’s efforts to address our broken immigration system, including expanding humanitarian parole programs to more migrants and expanding refugee resettlement from Latin America and Caribbean countries. At the same time, we are disheartened that this plan also includes an expansion of Title 42. It is time to end this pandemic-era policy once and for all” said Barbara Weinstein, Director of the Reform Jewish Movement’s Commission on Social Action. “Welcoming some with open arms while cruelly turning others away is unjust and unwise. It is far past time for the administration to restore asylum for all, rather than responding crisis by crisis, with temporary protections, one nationality at a time. And it is also far past time for Congress to work with the Administration on a sensible and just overhaul of our immigration system. Time and again, the Jewish people have experienced the consequences of harsh policies and indifference to the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable people. It is this history that inspires us to strongly urge the Biden administration to stand by its commitment to end Title 42 and restore a just and humane asylum system for all those seeking refuge.”
“Expanding Title 42 takes US policy in precisely the wrong direction, blocking access to asylum for even more people in need of protection,” said Joan Rosenhauer, Executive Director, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA (JRS/USA). “As the Administration itself has argued, Title 42 is a COVID-era policy ungrounded in science and instead has been used as a tool to bypass our legal systems and undermine the right of individuals and families to request asylum.”
“Humanitarian parole is intended for use in emergencies when no other opportunity for protection is available,” said Giulia McPherson, Director of Advocacy, JRS/USA. “As we’ve seen with our brothers and sisters from Afghanistan who were evacuated to the US in August 2021, parole does not offer a permanent solution. Instead, parolees live in limbo as they wait for policymakers to establish a permanent path to legal status. We do not want Ukrainians, Venezuelans, and now Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Haitians to face this same predicament.”
“Franciscan Action Network remains firm in our commitment to advocate for migrants seeking asylum at our southern border,” said Sister Marie Lucey, Associate Director of FAN. “We welcome President Biden’s promised and needed engagement on immigration and agree that an orderly, effective asylum process is required, but we object to his over-emphasis on border enforcement and expansion of the cruel and illegal use of Title 42. Extending the limited parole process to a few countries while increasing the use of expedited removal will close more doors than it opens. An operation against the human and drug smuggling industry is not relevant to the needs of migrant families and individuals seeking protection and safety from violence, oppression, and/or poverty in their home countries. Welcoming up to 20,000 refugees in FY 2023-2024, while positive, is too small a number. As Franciscans, who see all people as sisters and brothers—especially those most vulnerable—we call on the President to listen to the stories of migrants and welcoming communities when he visits El Paso this weekend, and be moved to do more within his executive power to honor the dignity and rights of people to migrate.”
“With the new policies announced by President Biden, the right to seek asylum at ports of entry continues to shrink to the point of illusion,” said Susan Gunn, director, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. “These new policies do not seem to advance any legitimate goal in protecting persons fleeing serious harm in their home countries. We know that the United States has the capacity and resources to manage migration in a humane, lawful manner, and to ensure a just and orderly asylum process at the border. We are especially disappointed with the plan to expand the use of Title 42—a public health directive that has been a stain on our nation and a threat to the functioning of the rule of law in our asylum system. As people of faith, we will continue crying out for an end to this policy and for a humane and robust system of protection for asylum seekers.”
“Every January for the last several years, we have cried out to Capitol Hill and the White House to put the most vulnerable first. To end Title 42. To protect and welcome those having survived a treacherous journey of hundreds if not thousands of miles, fleeing their increasingly dangerous homelands. President Biden regrettably has deflected and denied the rights of the migrant. Together, we must all do the real work of enacting solutions to create a viable asylum system while also offering support and resources to properly welcome and process everyone,” said Fran Eskin-Royer, Executive Director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
“Seeking asylum is a fundamental, protected human right. Any policy that restricts the right of asylum is an affront to our moral obligation to welcome asylum seekers. What the U.S. needs is a dignified, just, transparent, and timely system to gain legal entry, not more obstacles for fellow human beings fleeing persecution and violence,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. “As Jews, we know that immigration policy can be a matter of life or death. Many of our own families fled danger to find refuge in the United States, and many of our family members died after this country’s borders were closed to them. We remain committed to being a loud moral voice advocating for a just and transparent system for asylum seekers to gain legal entry into the United States.”
“We are appalled by this latest announcement from the Biden administration regarding U.S. asylum policy,” said Maggie Conley, Director of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team. “While we welcome efforts to expand some avenues for legal migration, the emphasis on deterrence, as well as the extension of Title 42 and a transit ban, will have a cruel and detrimental impact on thousands of vulnerable people who are only seeking safety for themselves and their families. Instead, priority should be on restoring asylum processing at points of entry. Most concerning, the Administration claims to be addressing the root causes of migration, but there is clearly little recognition that decades of failed U.S. economic and foreign policies have contributed to the conditions of mass impoverishment, inequality, and social exclusion from which people are fleeing for their lives.”
“New sponsorship and travel requirements for parole for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans will leave the most vulnerable people without a path to protection,” said Meredith Owen, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Church World Service. “Safety, protection, and welcome are rights that should be afforded to all people fleeing persecution—not a privilege given only to those who have the financial means or connections to qualify. If the plans discussed today come to fruition, many vulnerable individuals and families will be out of options and will be forced to return back into harm’s way. We must stop relying on policies based on exclusion and discrimination and instead invest in an asylum system that acknowledges and protects the rights of all people.”
“As followers of Jesus around the world prepare to observe the feast of the Epiphany, we continue to stand in solidarity with those who represent this generation’s holy families fleeing the massacre of innocents. The Interfaith Welcome Coalition of San Antonio implores President Biden to reflect upon the social teachings of his faith and to make every effort to protect the most vulnerable,” said Matt Lohmeier, IWC of SA Advocacy Committee Co-Chair. “The decision to continue to exploit illegitimate programs like Title 42, which actively place families into harm’s way, is simply deplorable. The humane course that we continue to demand includes comprehensive immigration reform grounded in compassion for those seeking refuge from the violence of war, poverty, and climate disruption. It is well past time to apply a 21st century human rights lens to immigration policy for the sake of human beings in desperate need of a place to be and to flourish.”
“We are appalled that President Biden is expanding Title 42 and effectively imposing an asylum ban, while saying he does not like the policy,” said Caraline Feairheller, Policy Analyst, Bridges Faith Initiative. “What the United States needs is for the right to asylum to be restored at the border.”
“While humanitarian parole programs are certainly helpful and needed, they do not replace the system of asylum which continues to be eroded by expanded use of Title 42,” said Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., or CLINIC. “CLINIC has been firm. Any expansion of Title 42 is misguided and dangerous. Continued use of a harmful, outdated health policy to usurp our legal obligations under international and asylum law is wrong. We urge the Biden administration to maintain access to asylum while it seeks to create other pathways of protection for those seeking safety in the U.S.”
“Today’s announcement is, sadly, yet another example of the kind of band-aid approach that favors select groups in an ad hoc manner, instead of the comprehensive effort we need to fix systemic problems at the border,” said Naomi Steinberg, HIAS Vice President of U.S. Policy and Advocacy. “While we applaud the administration for making a commitment to welcome 20,000 refugees from Latin American and Caribbean countries through the U.S. refugee resettlement program during Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024, we remain troubled that the administration will give preferential treatment to small numbers of Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, while expanding Title 42 expulsions for a much larger number of others. This administration is increasingly offering temporary protection as a quid pro quo for denying it to thousands of others, which is unacceptable… We need to see the administration’s long-term plan to ensure that all those admitted to the U.S. as parolees have meaningful opportunities for sustained protection and the ability to build new lives once they are here.”
“The new plan will create parole eligibility for individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua – but has narrow economic and social requirements for eligibility. These new changes rely on Title 42 legal authority, a policy that usurps longstanding U.S. immigration law that ensures asylum seekers rights to due process,” said Liz van Zyl, Vice President of Government Relations at Bethany Christian Services.
“Bethany welcomes the expansion of lawful pathways for entry for individuals facing humanitarian risks, but is deeply saddened at the decision to expand Title 42 – a harmful and inhumane policy to include people from Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua. While this new program will enable certain people to apply for parole to the U.S., the program doesn’t account for the most vulnerable who are seeking safety and will hurt those who have already traveled thousands of miles to do so,” said Dr. Tawnya Brown, Senior Vice President of Global, Refugee, and Immigrant Services at Bethany Christian Services. “Today’s expansion of Title 42 through this new narrow eligibility process keeps asylum seekers and parolees in limbo, as it provides mere temporary protection, and will hinder the most vulnerable from accessing safety in the U.S. because of new, difficult to meet economic and social eligibility requirements. We believe new pathways should complement the option for asylum seekers who are not able to avail themselves to the parole program to be able to access their legal right to seek asylum at ports of entry along the Southern Border. We urge the Biden administration to urgently work with Congress to prioritize passing comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that will create equitable and permanent solutions for vulnerable migrants fleeing persecution and seeking to build a new life in our country and strongly urge the administration to reconsider their decision to expand Title 42.”
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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