{"id":7373,"date":"2021-01-12T20:19:38","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T20:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=149200"},"modified":"2021-01-12T20:19:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T20:19:38","slug":"biden-must-follow-through-with-promise-to-restore-us-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/12\/biden-must-follow-through-with-promise-to-restore-us-asylum\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Must Follow Through With Promise to Restore US Asylum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The United States has made a commitment \u2014 by law and by treaty \u2014 to protect people who come to this country fleeing persecution. But the Trump administration relentlessly attacked people seeking protection and the very concept of asylum. It is now nearly impossible for anyone to secure asylum, no matter how strong their claim or fear. President-elect Biden has the opportunity to restore our asylum system, as he has promised to do<\/a>. Unwinding Trump\u2019s harmful and unlawful policies will be just the start to making our system more efficient, fair, and humane. A reversal is simply not enough \u2014 we must build our asylum system back better.    <\/p>\n

The asylum system Trump unilaterally destroyed was in place since 1980 when Congress passed<\/a> the bipartisan Refugee Act, enshrining in federal law the nation\u2019s international commitment to provide safety for people fleeing danger. These laws allow anyone who has been persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group to request asylum, which if granted allows them to live and work in the U.S. and get on a path to citizenship. Under our current law, individuals who arrive at the border and express a fear of returning to their home countries are either placed directly in a process to decide their asylum claims or screened further to determine if they could ultimately be granted asylum. If they pass, they are placed in the asylum process. Either way, they wait in the U.S. while a judge decides their case. <\/p>\n

The entire concept of asylum is that it is an urgent request\u2014that coming to the U.S. is critical to one\u2019s safety\u2014so being forced to remain in danger indefinitely is contrary to asylum\u2019s core purpose.<\/span>After Trump, this system is in shambles. People seeking asylum confront an alphabet soup of new anti-immigrant policies that ensure no one gets a fair shake. Biden must work swiftly to end these harmful policies and restore our asylum system. First, he must end the disingenuously named \u201cMigrant Protection Protocols\u201d or MPP, under which people seeking refuge are forcibly sent to Mexico, where they languish in dangerous conditions sometimes for more than a year. Refugee camps in Mexico are now filled with people sent there by the U.S. with no consideration of their asylum claims. Many of these individuals and families have experienced violence, extortion, and kidnapping, and some have even been killed. The entire concept of asylum is that it is an urgent request \u2014 that coming to the U.S. is critical to one\u2019s safety \u2014 so being forced to remain in danger indefinitely is contrary to asylum\u2019s core purpose.<\/p>\n

Among those trapped in Mexico are the ACLU\u2019s clients in Nora v. Wolf<\/a>, who have been forced to wait indefinitely in Tamaulipas, one of the most violent and lawless areas in the world. One family was kidnapped twice; the mother and her eldest daughter were gang raped over a period of days by cartel members. And despite the egregious harms they\u2019ve suffered, the Trump administration refused to let them wait for their asylum hearing in the U.S. Biden must end MPP immediately and ensure that the people subjected to the policy are able to pursue their claims in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Second, Biden must rescind the \u201cTitle 42\u201d order \u2014 CDC\u2019s regulations and orders that permit hasty expulsion of asylum seekers and unaccompanied children, unlawfully denying them any chance to seek humanitarian relief like asylum. Under Title 42, young teenagers like J.B.B.C.<\/a>, who witnessed a murder in Honduras and fled after gang members threatened him, are summarily sent back to danger. The three federal judges who have examined the Title 42 order all agree that it is illegal. And although the Trump administration tried to cloak the order in public health justifications<\/a>, numerous public health experts<\/a> denounced the policy and explained why it does not protect this country\u2019s health. CDC\u2019s own experts reportedly objected<\/a> to the policy and refused to support it in court; it was implemented only after the White House pressured the CDC to accept it. As public health experts have explained, the government has <\/a>the means to safely process people seeking protection<\/a> while safeguarding the health of U.S. residents.<\/p>\n

Third, President-elect Biden must act quickly to end Trump\u2019s two illegal asylum bans. The first bans anyone who entered the U.S. between ports of entry, even though U.S. laws state that it does not matter how a person enters if they are fleeing danger. The second bans anyone who travels through a third country to reach the U.S., unless they first apply for and are denied asylum in a third country \u2014 impacting nearly every non-Mexican asylum seeker. It is a naked attempt to deny as many people as possible, regardless of their need for protection under our laws. While the ACLU and partners quickly blocked the first asylum ban, the second ban had disastrous consequences for people seeking asylum before a judge vacated<\/a> it in June 2020. But, the Trump administration has doubled down, issuing a new version<\/a> of the second ban at the eleventh hour that takes effect just a day before inauguration. Biden must quickly rescind both bans.<\/p>\n

These are just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous disastrous anti-asylum policies that Biden must promptly stop, including:<\/p>\n