By Kapish Kalita
LOS ANGELES, CA – One of the largest immigrant rights organizations in the U.S. released a statement this week rejecting “the policies announced today by the Biden Administration allowing the Administration to effectively shut down the border and dramatically restrict access to migrants seeking refuge.”
CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights) charged the Biden administration’s decision was “unnecessary, punitive, and highly political” with “asylum seekers, under this executive action… removed by immigration officers immediately and will not be allowed to state their case after a small numerical threshold is reached daily.”
CHIRLA added, “This announcement, like the failed bipartisan border ‘deal,’ may be stymied by legal challenges and Congressional inaction,” adding, “Regardless of any court outcomes” the “announced policies are likely to do immense harm.”
CHIRLA also noted the announcement came “on top of numerous other recent actions—from using classified information against immigrants, asking them to resolve complex issues earlier in their immigration cases before they have a lawyer, and increasing criminal prosecutions of immigrants—that are already undermining the right to seek asylum.”
Angelica Salas, CHIRLA’s executive director, stated, “Tilting right to appease those who have remained steadfast opponents of any migration to the United States, is wrong” and that the U.S. “should remain the beacon of hope for those seeking protection for themselves and their families.”
Salas argued, “These policies increase the suffering of many who seek lifesaving protection and the harm that will result from the implementation of this executive order for many is irreversible…border restrictions proposed in these policies…neither satisfy opponents of any reform to our nation’s outdated immigration laws nor address the situation at our border or the conditions that force migrants to leave their home countries.”
Salas promised CHIRLA “will fight tooth and nail to stop this executive order from going into effect and to reverse all other anti-asylum policies already doing damage to the right to seek refuge.”
