Las Americas IAC Reacts to Biden Admin Asylum Ban

For Immediate Release: May 10, 2023

EL PASO, TEXAS – Last night, the Biden administration released a final rule that will illegally ban many refugees from asylum protections in the United States.

Jennifer Babaie, Director of Advocacy and Legal Services with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, released the following statement:

“With the implementation of these new policies, the administration is going out of its way to be cruel and further human misery instead of reallocating resources and seeking meaningful solutions that would protect our communities. It is an insult to the individuals seeking safety, and to the groups that work with them and the communities that house them, to lift one deadly policy only to replace it with another. Many many people fleeing for their lives will be banned from seeking protection and entering the country because of this xenophobic, racist policy. Both US and international law protect the right to seek asylum, regardless of whether someone arrives by air or foot, at a bridge or through a river

“President Biden campaigned to roll back the harmful policies of the Trump administration, a promise they have now callously and repeatedly broken. Vulnerable people arriving at our borders need humanitarian assistance, community care, case management services, and welcome, not cruelty, not deterrence, and not further risks of harm.”