ABA calls on Biden administration to protect asylum-seekers
Immigration Law
ABA calls on Biden administration to protect asylum-seekers
March 7, 2024, 9:07 am CST
ABA President Mary Smith is urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Domestic Policy Council to honor due process when responding to conflicts at the U.S.-Mexico border. (Image from Shutterstock)
ABA President Mary Smith is urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Domestic Policy Council to honor due process when responding to conflicts at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a March 6 letter to Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the DHS, and Neera Tanden, the director of the Domestic Policy Council, Smith said the ABA recognizes that efforts to provide additional tools and resources to address challenges at the border have stalled in Congress.
But, she added, the association opposes “any actions or policies, including the widespread and indiscriminate use of a national border expulsion authority and the heightening of the credible fear standard, that abrogate our nation’s moral and legal responsibility to protect asylum-seekers.”
Smith contended that raising the credible fear standard and limiting the review of fear-based claims would exacerbate existing concerns over due process. She also said a national border expulsion authority could jeopardize protection measures that are now available to vulnerable people and families.
“While we applaud the efforts of those working to find solutions to the current challenges at the border, the administration should refrain from abandoning our domestic and international legal responsibility to provide protections for individuals facing threats of harm in their own countries by upholding our asylum and humanitarian parole systems,” Smith said.
She encouraged Mayorkas and Tanden to consider other solutions, such as expanding resources at ports of entry and for communities and organizations that provide shelter, case management, legal services and language interpretation to people seeking asylum.
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