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Yes, You Can—Comment on Anti-Asylum Rule

Posted on Jan 10 2020

Just before the holidays, the Trump administration quietly introduced a proposed rule change that would hurt many asylum seekers.  The rule change would exclude many asylum seekers based on future contact with the U.S.’s flawed criminal legal system.

With just a few minutes of your time, you can act to oppose this regulation.

Thanks to the National Immigrant Justice Center for sharing how-to-comment information.

This proposed regulation would put asylum-seekers at risk of danger—even death. Under this rule change, people who have endured mistreatment and profiling in the U.S. criminal justice system would be punished a second time, with deportation back to the very life-threatening situation they fled. And judges would be powerless to help.

You can find more detailed background on the proposed rule here, along with an additional template laying out detailed legal objections to the proposed regulation. But you do not have to be a lawyer or expert to comment. You can comment today, in just a few minutes. The administration is required to review all comments  submitted by January 21, 2020.

How to take action!

You can write a few sentences or a few pages. Then click here for the official page where the federal government is accepting public comment and paste in your comment. If you would like some help getting started, here are some suggestions:

1) Start by simply stating your opposition to the rule change:

I write to express my strong opposition to this proposed rule change.

2) Personalize your comment. Include stories if you can. Some examples:

• I am a concerned member of the public who believes strongly that our nation must welcome people fleeing violence, and who is strongly concerned about racial profiling in the criminal legal system. Immigrants are a vital part of my community, my neighborhood, and my state.
  
• As an immigrant from XX who has lived in the U.S. for XX years, I am deeply concerned that this rule change would send people who fled violence back to danger and death.
• As a formerly incarcerated person, I think it’s wrong to punish people a second time after they’ve completed their sentences. Deportation is often a matter of life and death.
• As [title] at [org], I work with immigrant community members daily, and am concerned this rule would put many people in danger.
  

3) Explain values that are the basis for your opposition. Some examples:

• Our values call for the U.S. to be a place of refuge for people fleeing violence, starvation, poverty, or persecution. 
• The criminal legal system in the U.S. is wracked with racial profiling and obstacles to equal justice.  Our harsh immigration laws exploit these obstacles to drive mass incarceration and mass deportation of people of color.  
• This proposed rule would inject racial profiling into the asylum process. This latest attack would put even more people seeking asylum at risk of danger – and death. This would in turn eviscerate one of the most important defenses community members have against deportation. 
• I believe we must recognize the humanity of every person, including immigrants, and protect our neighbors from discrimination and abuse. Our immigration and asylum policies must honor our ideals of compassion, fairness, and respect for human rights – not trample them.

4) Close by restating your opposition to the rule change:

For these reasons, I call upon the Trump administration to withdraw this proposal.

Ready, set, GO!

Click here for the official page where the federal government is accepting public comment. Paste your comment in the box on the federal government’s website, enter your personal information (if you’re able to – you can also submit anonymously), and submit!