Douglas Rivlin: “Hard to Reconcile” Biden Campaign Promises with Details of Proposed Asylum Ban
Washington, DC – The following is a statement from Douglas Rivlin, Director of Communication for America’s Voice, reacting to the Biden Administration’s new asylum ban proposed rule:
“President Biden ran for and won the presidency by pledging to turn the page on the cruelty and chaos of the Trump era and ‘restore the soul of America.’ It’s hard to reconcile those promises with the details of the proposed asylum ban announced today. It’s a policy eerily reminiscent of the Trump/Stephen Miller approach and a willful break from some of our proudest traditions as a nation.
Just because this news had been anticipated doesn’t make it any less devastating. We should be finding ways to fix and fully resource our asylum process, not devising ways to prevent people seeking safety from accessing the asylum process under our laws.
The Biden Administration has engaged more forcefully on immigration in recent months and has opened additional legal channels to encourage safe alternatives that avoid a dangerous trek to the U.S. border. But coupling these positive developments with the news of the asylum transit ban isn’t a savvy middle ground or smart political triangulation ahead of Biden’s re-election campaign announcement – it’s an adoption of Republicans’ framing and deterrence-focused policy vision and an abandonment of a proud American tradition. Furthermore, it risks sending people back to danger or death.
We need a sustained strategy from the Biden Administration and Democrats to address the refugee crisis in the hemisphere and the broader U.S. need for immigrants, not band-aid deterrence measures more designed to address short-run political milestones like the end of the COVID-19 emergency or the President kicking off his 2024 reelection campaign.
Democratic Members of Congress who have pushed back on this policy forcefully need to continue to tell their President that new Trump-lite restrictions on asylum are not the way to go politically or morally.”
Additional Resources and Background
- Read from America’s Voice: “The Disturbing Significance of the Proposed Asylum Ban”
- Human Rights First fact sheet: “Biden Administration Plan to Resurrect Asylum Ban Advances Trump Agenda”
- Press Release: Padilla, Durbin Request Biden Admin Consider Recommendations to Recently Announced Migrant Initiative at Southwest Border
- Letter signed by 77 House and Senate Democrats to President Biden expressing “great concern over the new asylum restrictions”
- Letter from nearly 300 organizations in opposition to proposed asylum transit ban: read here
