Defend the Right to Seek Asylum

Although President Biden promised a more humane asylum system as a candidate, his administration is continuing the U.S. government’s attacks on asylum. A new agreement  will send many Venezuelan migrants to Mexico without an opportunity to seek first asylum in the United States. Currently, there are over 7 million Venezuelan refugees fleeing human rights abuses and a humanitarian crisis. The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the Refugee Act of 1980 protect refugees and asylum seekers fleeing oppression. Our Christian faith urges us to generously welcome asylum seekers, compelling us to “love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19). But instead of welcoming, our government expels those seeking to exercise their right to protection.   Tell President Biden: Defend the Right to Seek Asylum Since March of 2020, a CDC directive under Title 42 of the U.S. code has empowered border patrol agents to expel migrants who would normally be detained. Mexico formerly would only receive migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Under the recent agreement, Mexico will now accept migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba who are expelled under Title 42.  In exchange, the U.S. will admit a limited number of Venezuelans who meet specific requirements. Program participants must have a sponsor in the U.S. and provide their own air travel. Individuals who have been deported from the United States within the last five years or who entered Panama or Mexico illegally since the day of the announcement are ineligible. These difficult requirements do not provide a pathway for impoverished Venezuelans who do not have ties to the United States or who cannot pay for their own plane tickets.    The need for admission into the United States is also far greater than the program allows: the U.S. will only accept 24,000 Venezuelans for humanitarian parole, far fewer than the 53,333 who attempted to enter the country in August of 2022 alone.  Thus, while the humanitarian parole program will certainly help to provide refuge to some Venezuelans, the expansion of Title 42 makes seeking asylum much more difficult for those who do not meet the program’s qualifications.   Tell President Biden: Defend the Right to Seek Asylum Current U.S. asylum policy is fundamentally flawed. Providing humanitarian parole to a limited number of migrants on a country-specific and preferential basis is inadequate when people are fleeing violence, disaster and hunger globally. President Biden should end Title 42 as a migration management tool. Asylum policy must include investments in just and equitable procedures that can be applied across nationalities with humanitarian principles at their core.   The U.S. should share in the responsibility to protect and assist our Venezuelan neighbors. God is calling us to open our arms and extend a wide welcome to our neighbors who are seeking a safe place to live and raise their families.