The Trump administration, now aided and abetted by the Supreme Court, is gutting the U.S. asylum system. The consequences are and will be devastating. Below are just some of the reactions:
As an unnamed asylum officer told BuzzFeed’s Hamed Aleaziz:
“We’re in the midst of a refugee crisis on the southern border and the administration’s response are policies of exclusion enacted through this kind of bureaucratic violence…The administration is dismantling, misusing, and perverting this country’s asylum system.”
As Justice Sotomayor noted in her shattering dissent:
“It is especially concerning, moreover, that the rule the Government promulgated topples decades of settled asylum practices and affects some of the most vulnerable people in the Western Hemisphere.”
Lee Gelernt of the ACLU said:
“‘Allowing the ban to go into effect would not only upend four decades of unbroken practice, it would place countless people, including families and unaccompanied children, at grave risk.’ The administration’s claim of a crisis at the border ‘cannot justify ignoring the laws Congress passed.’”
As the American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin-Melnick tweeted:
“A brief list of people now banned from asylum if they arrive at the southern border, go up to a port of entry, and ask for asylum “the right way.”
– Venezuelans fleeing Maduro
– Nicaraguans fleeing government crackdowns
– Transgender women fleeing persecution
– All non-Mexicans.”
Lindsay Toczylowski, Director and Founder of Immigrant Defenders, said:
“It’s brutally hot in Mexicali. When I arrived it was about 105 [degrees] & [people] kept telling me it was 120 two weeks ago. Multiple [people] I met mentioned there kids had suffered illnesses related to the heat. And that’s another thing, there are so many kids. So many toddlers and babies.
…Sitting at home now thinking of everyone I met this week and how this news will impact them. Like the young single dad who fled persecution in Nicaragua and then travelled by foot and bus and train to Mexicali with his 4 [year old] son riding much of the way on his shoulders.
… One mom traveling with her two small children told me that she fled Honduras because the gangs were like a plague. “I knew it was going to get us, my kids were next, so we left” she told me. Her little boy was nursing and fell asleep while we talked.
…So many stories of rape, kidnapping and exploitation of migrants in Mexicali. Folks being returned after MPP hearings are specifically targeted for kidnappings. One young couple was so traumatized after being kidnapped they spoke in a whisper our entire consultation.”
El Otro Lado tweeted last night after the Supreme Court decision:
“Official statement coming soon but rn we’re struggling to find words. There are 10K+ asylum seekers stuck in Tijuana. We r the only OTG org here providing legal aid. This is a death sentence for most our clients. Our hearts are broken + we’re exhausted.”
