Las Americas Reacts to Latest Political Ploy by Senate GOP

For Immediate Release: November 7, 2023

“Those who believe that imposing further restrictions on asylum will discourage migration are embarrassingly uninformed”

EL PASO, TEXAS – Yesterday, Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tom Cotton (R-AR) and James Lankford (R-OK) outlined the Senate GOP's border policy demands in the negotiations over the Biden administration's $106 billion national security supplemental request. In response, Marisa Limón Garza, Executive Director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and New Mexico, shared the following statement:

“Borderland communities and migrants will not be served up on a silver platter for political consumption. We are just as important a component of the American fabric as any other region. Whether Democrats or Republicans like it or not, the right to seek asylum is legal. It’s disgusting to think that the militarization of my hometown or stripping the rights of vulnerable migrants is seen as merely a bargaining chip to trade for military support in Ukraine, Israel, or Taiwan.

“The Biden administration had promised to reinstate the United States' commitment to a just and compassionate immigration system. Those who believe that imposing further restrictions on asylum will discourage migration are embarrassingly uninformed. The factors compelling individuals to leave their homes will not cease simply because Washington politicians delude themselves into believing in the failed policies of previous administrations. President Biden must not succumb to the temptation of a short-term political victory at the expense of migrant lives at the southern border.”