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Asylum Under Attack: Call Congress Now!
Posted on Nov 29 2023
Right now, U.S. asylum and humanitarian parole programs are at grave risk of being traded away in negotiations over supplemental funding. Proposals that seek to restrict asylum and humanitarian parole will create more border chaos, not less. And blocking vulnerable immigrants from seeking access to safety endangers their lives and the lives of their families.
Call your Senators. Call your Congressional Representative. Tell them not to compromise away U.S. legal protection for vulnerable immigrants. Tell them to vote against any compromise that limits asylum or humanitarian parole.
Asylum
U.S. asylum laws offer protection to people who were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Asylum seekers arriving at the border or who are physically present in the United States, regardless of how they got here, may apply for asylum.
Both U.S. and international law forbid refoulment, which means returning a person to the country where they are likely to face persecution. Proposed limits on asylum order return of asylum seekers to those countries.
Humanitarian Parole
Anti-immigrant proposals also target humanitarian parole. Humanitarian parole allowed some Afghans fleeing the Taliban and Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country to enter the United States.
Humanitarian parole also allows temporary entry of some people who have family or other financial sponsors in the United States. People from a limited number of countries, including Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, may apply for sponsored humanitarian parole. Humanitarian parole may also be granted to individuals for urgent humanitarian reasons, such as a medical emergency or urgent family situation.
This Is Not Border Security
Attacks on asylum and humanitarian parole masquerade as “border security” measures. In fact, they add nothing to border security and, instead, will increase border chaos.
The lives of vulnerable and persecuted people must not be reduced to bargaining chips in partisan deal-making.
Call your Senators. Call your Congressional Representative. Tell them not to compromise away U.S. legal protection for vulnerable immigrants. Tell them to vote against any compromise that limits asylum or humanitarian parole.