We need to hold the Biden administration accountable, so we don’t repeat the past.
Our country saw firsthand how President Trump’s blatant disregard of asylum laws effectively dismantled the U.S. asylum system. Vulnerable people were turned away from our borders, left to suffer in Mexico or sent back to persecution in their home countries.
Now, we are seeing President Biden uphold and defend many of the same anti-immigrant, racist policies he promised to end on the campaign trail.
From brutally expelling Haitian asylum seekers and continuing Title 42, to nearly doubling the number of people in ICE detention, the Biden administration has failed to live up to its promises. But it isn’t too late to find a better way forward.
The American Immigration Council, along with 38 other civil rights organizations, wrote a coalition letter urging President Biden to correct these injustices.
In the letter, we implore President Biden to:
-
End the policy of immediate expulsions from the border, in violation of asylum seekers’ rights.
-
Stop inflicting cruelty on Black, Brown, and Indigenous immigrant communities.
-
Honor its commitment to advance racial equity in all parts of government.
-
Stop putting financially motivated incarceration in private prisons at the center of its immigration policy.
The letter also reiterates our recommendations to help the administration work toward a more just immigration system, including reopening the ports of entry and rejecting false narratives of public safety that demonize immigrants.
If you’re as outraged as we are, join us in holding the Biden administration accountable to its promise of restoring our country’s humane asylum system.
Sincerely,
Jorge Loweree
Policy Director
