Asylum is a humanitarian issue. It has been corrupted by politics.
As community leaders from diverse backgrounds, we come together to vehemently object to proposed rules that we feel undermine our values as a country. On June 15, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security and the Executive Office for Immigration Review proposed alarming new regulations that will eviscerate our asylum laws and completely gut protections for people fleeing life-threatening persecution, including vulnerable children.
As we face one of the most challenging times in modern history, with much collective grief and loss, we have the opportunity to honor and uphold our strength and legacy as a country of immigrants. We recognize that there is much need amongst our own citizens, but turning our backs on some of the most vulnerable people in the world weakens our democracy. These massive regulations would violate both international and domestic law, and forgo the due process guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of our Constitution.
This issue goes beyond party lines; we have been eroding protections, particularly for children, for many years (well before the current administration). But what began as a slow erosion of 40 years of carefully crafted asylum law, has developed into an avalanche over the past three years. These latest proposed regulations would effectively end asylum.
There has always been a very strict standard to qualify for asylum in the U.S. — you must prove that you would face extreme persecution or death if sent back to your home country. But these newly proposed rules would make it nearly impossible for anyone to win asylum, including: women and children who have suffered extreme domestic violence, children and families targeted by violent gangs for forced recruitment, extortion and sexual abuse, victims of human trafficking, and LGBTQ people persecuted for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
This issue was brought to our attention by a new documentary film “Paper Children,” about one family’s struggle to remain safely together in the U.S.. After the children experienced the destruction of their extended family and community at the hands of armed groups, and were threatened with murder and rape, the four siblings fled Honduras to seek protection in 2014. By the end of the film, some of the children receive asylum, but none of them would qualify for protection under the new proposed rules.
We object to the proposed regulations on the basis of the following:
1. It unrealistically and unconscionably raises the bar and standard people must meet when they first arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border and further restricts protections for those who have or would be tortured.
2. It essentially removes protection for people fleeing violence from non-state actors, disregarding current U.S. law and ignoring the systematic and subtle forms of persecution created and condoned by state actors.
3. It requires adjudicators to consider factors irrelevant to a person’s need for protection as reasons to deny asylum.
4. It eliminates access to due process and fairness for asylum seekers, permitting judges to deny meritorious asylum cases before asylum seekers ever get their day in court.
We, the undersigned, urge withdrawal of the proposed rules, and urge immediate attention to pending asylum claims. Our nation has nothing to fear and everything to gain by welcoming those who risk their lives to seek freedom here in the land we love.
We ask you to join us immediately by writing a public comment to the Department of Homeland Security that expresses your solidarity and advocates for protection of asylum seekers and refugees, by 11:59pm ET on Wednesday, July 15. Your comment does not need to be long, but in order for it to be considered it must be in your own words. You may submit your public comment as follows:
· ONLINE: visit this website for an easy way to post your comment: https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=EOIR-2020-0003-0001
· EMAIL: DHSDeskOfficer@omb.eop.gov , include the reference “EOIR Docket №18–0002” and “Attention: Desk Officer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, DHS” in the subject line of the email.
· FAX: (202) 395–6566, “Attention: Desk Officer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, DHS” and reference “EOIR Docket №18–0002.”
Sincerely,
Alexandra Codina, Filmmaker — “Paper Children”
Americans for Immigrant Justice
Catholic Legal Services, Archdiocese of Miami
Impact Media Partners
Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
MomsRising
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Save the Children Action Network
University of Miami School of Law, Human Rights Clinic
