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New Asylum Bans Are Illegal and Immoral
Posted on Jan 06 2023
January 6, 2023—While President Biden’s announcement of temporary parole for a limited number of Haitians, Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Venezuelans sounds like humanitarian move, the reality is quite different. Only people safe enough to apply from their home countries, well-connected enough to find a U.S. sponsor, and wealthy enough to pay for a passport and airline ticket will be allowed to apply. The flip side of this announcement: people unable to remain in their home countries because their lives are in danger will not be allowed to apply for asylum here.
“Today’s announcement betrays those most in need of safe haven in the United States,” said Veena Iyer, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. “This return to Trump-era policies already struck down by multiple courts is a cruel travesty that cannot be allowed to stand.
“Denying asylum to people whose long and dangerous overland journeys bring them to our southern border is both immoral and illegal. Asylum must not be conditioned on whether the asylum seeker walks or flies, on whether they are wealthy and well-connected or poor and friendless.”
President Biden’s announcement expands Title 42 expulsions to Mexico to include Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians, as well as migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. His administration will also reinstate Trump’s transit ban on asylum seekers, barring any who have traveled through a third country before arriving in the United States.
Along with these draconian anti-asylum measures, “humanitarian parole” for a limited number of Haitians, Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Venezuelans will allow up to 30,000 migrants to enter the United States monthly. This “humanitarian parole” is a temporary two-year status, and is available only to individuals who apply online, from their home countries, with sufficient money and connections to obtain passports and airline tickets and U.S. sponsors.
Barring asylum seekers or expelling them to dangerous camps in Mexico violates both U.S. and international law. U.S. asylum law states:
“Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum …” [8 USC 1158(a)(1)]