Washington, DC – A court filing released this week makes clear that the Biden Administration is planning to move forward with the proposed asylum transit ban (see related tweet thread from CBS News immigration reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez). A Washington Post report, meanwhile, details how the Biden Administration is exploring expedited removals – essentially fast-track deportations with truncated due process – to “allow U.S. authorities to carry out large-scale deportations of non-Mexicans back across the border for the first time.”
The following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“President Biden’s proposed asylum ban and plan for expanded deportations are flat-out wrong – advancing cruel and chaotic policy and trampling on some of our proudest traditions as a welcoming nation. A Democratic administration under a President who ran on restoring the nation’s soul should not be in the business of proposing asylum bans or resuscitating the cruelty and chaos of the Trump administration.
The Biden Administration’s recent engagement on immigration is a good thing, but only if they chart out real solutions and define sharp contrasts with Republicans – not adopt GOP frames, cede the moral high ground, and undercut effective policy. 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.
Trying to appease Republicans or nativists by being cruel is a fool’s errand because no amount of deportation, restriction or cruelty will satisfy those on the far-right driving the Republican immigration agenda. But it also misses the fact that most Americans want a balanced approach that charts a middle road between legal channels and a legal process for immigrants that is clear, while simultaneously pursuing measures to reduce unauthorized traffic at the U.S. border. That balanced approach has the strong support of the American majority, but President Biden is missing the mark by proposing all stick, and very little carrot.”
- Read More from America’s Voice: “The Disturbing Significance of the Proposed Asylum Ban”
- New Just Security op-ed from Karen Musalo, “Biden’s Embrace of Trump’s Transit Ban Violates US Legal and Moral Refugee Obligations.” Musalo is a law professor and founding director of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies at the University of California, Law, San Francisco
