Photo Courtesy of St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church
Counseling
The Rev. Paul Fleck of Immigration Law and Justice New York counsels a recent applicant about her asylum application.
Special to United Methodist Insight
NEW YORK - President Joe Biden today announced a new executive order which directs the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to cut off asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, deport them without processing asylum claims, and bar them from re-entry for extended periods. This border shutdown is triggered if more than 2,500 migrants cross in one day. It is shockingly similar to Trump’s Muslim Ban which also invoked Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to undermine due process, fairness and transparency in our legal system. United Women in Faith and the Immigration Law & Justice Network released the following statement:
We are appalled by this announcement. As organizations rooted in faith, whose stakeholders include women, immigrants, lawyers, and border communities, we believe all people should be safe from harm, and that every one of us has a responsibility to persons who are fleeing dangerous conditions or certain death.
We challenge the legality of an executive order which prevents asylum seekers from receiving fair and accurate consideration of requests for asylum, a right guaranteed by U.S. law and international law. But just as important, we sound the alarm on our President for the human devastation this will cause. This executive order will greatly increase the numbers of asylum seekers waiting in Mexico, where they are vulnerable to kidnapping, rape, and other violence at the hands of cartels. This is especially true for LGBTQAI+ migrants, black migrants, female migrants, and child migrants.
“Here on the Arizona/Sonora border I have witnessed the harm suffered by asylum seekers who are unable to get through the border because of restrictive asylum policies.,” said ILJ Network’s Co-Executive Director Alba Jaramillo. “I have met asylum seekers who have died, who have disappeared and who have been kidnapped while waiting for the opportunity to enter the United States. President Biden’s executive order to shut down the border when daily encounters hit a specific threshold, is a policy that will result in further death and harm to asylum seekers at the border who are in dire need of safety. Migrant lives deserve protection.”
“When women and children are forced to flee to our borders from all around the world, they are desperate. As an organization devoted to the uplift of women, children and youth, we are particularly concerned about the impact of this executive order and the related criminalization of immigrants. We also know and bear witness to the fact that Black and Brown people are disproportionately impacted by policies such as these as well as the criminalization of undocumented people,” said Sally Vonner, general secretary of United Women in Faith. “The executive order issued today must be challenged. This is a matter of right and wrong, and this executive order is morally wrong.”
The two organizations stated: "We believe our country has a moral responsibility to ensure a fair process for asylum seekers and humane treatment of migrants. Today's executive order is a complete dereliction of that sacred duty. As people of faith and as people of moral conscience, we demand better. President Biden and this Administration must change course immediately."
Jennifer R. Farmer provides communications support for United Women in Faith.