Tell the Biden Administration to Protect the Right to Seek Asylum | Physicians for Human Rights

Tell the Biden Administration to Protect the Right to Seek Asylum

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Last week we welcomed the end of Title 42, a Trump-era policy that weaponized the pandemic to expel people seeking asylum from the United States.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration is swapping one cruel border expulsion policy for other equally cruel border expulsion policies. The new asylum ban will make refugees ineligible for asylum based on how they enter the United States and whether they applied for protection in a country they transited through on their way to the United States, in clear violation of U.S. asylum law.

We need your help: Will you join us in calling on the Biden administration to rescind this new asylum ban that presumptively denies people from seeking asylum on U.S. soil?

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Your Message
Stop banning people from seeking asylum on U.S. soil
To the Biden Administration::

I’m writing today out of concern over a new asylum ban that presumptively denies individuals the right to claim asylum or other forms of protection on U.S. soil at any coastal border or near the US-Mexico border, unless they have prearranged a specific time and location to present at a port of entry through CBP One, a mobile application, sought protection from another country they have passed through, or they qualify under exceptional circumstances that have been extremely narrowly defined.

The United States is the largest recipient of asylum claims among industrialized nations. Victims of persecution and torture who come to this country may apply for asylum and protection under the UN Convention against Torture in order to remain legally and avoid deportation to countries where they may be harmed.

This new asylum ban is likely to cause significant harm to a population that is already highly vulnerable due to the factors that made them seek protection in the first place, compounded by the conditions faced on their journey to the border, including extortion, kidnapping, rape, and other forms of physical and psychological violence.

Erecting new barriers to asylum like those proposed in this asylum ban will no doubt prolong and intensify human suffering. These provisions risk exacerbating the humanitarian crisis at the U.S. border, with asylum seekers residing in hazardous border towns in Mexico indefinitely facing continued psychological trauma and health harms.

Please work to allocate resources towards establishing equitable, efficient, and trauma-informed processes for those seeking asylum at U.S. borders, regardless of where they are and how they reach U.S. soil. I urge you to rescind this new asylum ban that presumptively denies people from seeking asylum on U.S. soil.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]