,

Over 30 years ago, the National Immigration Law Center won a nationwide, permanent injunction requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to stop interfering with the right to apply for asylum in the United States. Before the Orantes injunction, the DHS routinely obstructed Salvadoran asylum seekers’ right to obtain and work with counsel.

Right now, the federal government is violating the terms of the Orantes injunction through the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), better known as the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy. Today, we’re taking them to court to repeal this cruel policy that perpetuates the harm we fought so hard to end in 1982.

Unfortunately, the Remain in Mexico policy has continued under President Biden’s leadership, sending thousands of asylum seekers back to the dangerous, and sometimes deadly, conditions they fled from, on top of depriving them of due process.

Once again, Salvadorans and other asylum seekers are being blocked from pursuing asylum claims and forced to survive in Mexico, where they are unable to seek legal representation or access materials to prepare their cases – dooming their chances to a fair hearing while subjecting them to further violence and putting their lives at risk.

, as the right to seek asylum in our country is being undermined across multiple fronts, we must stand strong in our moral and legal obligations to all asylum seekers.

Sincerely,

Lisa Graybill
Legal Director
National Immigration Law Center