(Washington)—After weeks of secrecy, Senate leaders have finally unveiled their proposals to catastrophically alter the asylum system and deny protection to individuals seeking safety.
“The Senate has demonstrated that it would prefer to cater to hateful and anti-immigrant rhetoric about the border rather than consider real legal and policy solutions. For decades the immigrant rights movement, including impacted immigrants themselves, has campaigned for reforms to our immigration laws. What the Senate put forth last night is a betrayal of those efforts – to those who bravely shared their stories of how the immigration system has failed them and to all immigrant communities – who are integral to American life,” said ILRC Policy Director Sameera Hafiz.
“The crisis we are facing today is that politicians don’t listen to our border communities and what they need; the crisis is that politicians don’t resource the myriad organizations and services necessary to support migrants; the crisis – real crisis – is a lack of leadership,” Hafiz added. “Since day one of the Biden Administration the ILRC has offered immigration policy solutions, grounded in the needs of immigrant communities, that continue to go unheard, despite the promises that President Biden made on the campaign trail.”
Among the ILRC’s suggestions:
- Address systemic inequities in immigration benefits adjudication and ensure asylum is truly accessible to individuals seeking safety from persecution and in compliance with international and federal law. This includes rescinding Trump-era regulations designed to deter access to asylum;
- Challenge anti-immigrant state policies, such as such as Texas’s Operation Lone Star, that target and seek to incarcerate people of color and immigrant communities seeking safety and stability in the United States.
“The ILRC has seen firsthand the goodwill and compassion of Texan communities, and how frustrated these communities are with state and federal officials who promote politically self-serving policies that fail to meet their needs,” Hafiz said. “We have also seen firsthand how policies like Operation Lone Star and Texas’ SB 4 laws, which specifically target Black and Brown migrants, has siphoned resources from communities all over the state.”
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The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) is a national nonprofit that works with immigrants, community organizations, legal professionals, and policy makers to build a democratic society that values diversity and the rights of all people. Through community education programs, legal training & technical assistance, and policy development & advocacy, the ILRC works to protect and defend the fundamental rights of immigrant families and communities.