President Biden today issued a Proclamation on “Securing the Border,” which effectively closes the southern U.S. border to asylum seekers and other migrants. The proclamation limits and suspends the entry of any noncitizen into the United States across the southern border—unless they meet an exception—effective at 12:01 a.m. Eastern daylight time on June 5, 2024. […]
Category: Asylum
Call to Action: Protect Asylum
The Senate is expected to vote on a bill on Thursday May 23, 2024 that would significantly limit access to asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. This bill has been touted as “the toughest bipartisan border bill in a generation.” The proposed changes would constitute the most anti-immigrant and anti-asylum legislation in nearly a century and would […]
USCRI Opposes Proposed Border Deal, Urges Senators to Save Asylum
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) strongly opposes the newly unveiled deal in the U.S. Senate that would dramatically curtail the right to seek asylum in exchange for unrelated foreign assistance. “USCRI unequivocally opposes proposals that would compromise the ability of the United States to offer protections for those fleeing persecution in pursuit […]
USCRI Condemns the UK Bill to Revive Plans to Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda
The emergency bill introduced by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would have the UK shirking its international responsibility to provide safe haven to people seeking asylum. The bill revives a plan to send asylum seekers arriving in the United Kingdom (UK) to Rwanda for probable processing. Last month, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom […]
Take Action: Reach out to Congress to Protect Critical Asylum Protections
Current negotiations surrounding President Biden’s proposed budget have included suggested rollbacks of critical asylum protections, such as raising the credible fear standard, increasing immigration detention, and instituting asylum caps. The White House has also indicated its willingness to limit asylum rights in exchange for humanitarian aid. USCRI is concerned about the attacks on the right to seek asylum and […]
Biden Enroute to Institute a Transit Ban on Asylum and Expand the Use of Expedited Removal: USCRI Urges the Administration to Reverse Course
In a filing with the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week, the Biden administration moved forward with its intent to “place additional conditions on asylum eligibility” after the use of Title 42 ends. This builds upon the January 5 announcement, from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to implement new border enforcement measures. Despite hundreds […]
Expanding Title 42, Again, Fails Even More Asylum Seekers
Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new border enforcement measures to expand the use of Title 42 for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans, severely limiting their ability to apply for asylum. More than two million asylum seekers and migrants have been expelled from the United States under Title 42 since its inception in […]
The Expanded Use of Title 42 Places More Migrants and Asylum Seekers in Harm’s Way
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on October 12, 2022, that it will expel Venezuelans entering without authorization at the southern border to Mexico through the use of Title 42, an obscure provision of public health law that allows border officials to rapidly expel asylum seekers and migrants to Mexico or their home […]
USCRI Policy Brief – New Asylum Rule: More Steps and Shorter Timelines
The new asylum rule has made significant changes to one of the two pathways to asylum in the United States. Most significantly, the new rule establishes a positive credible fear determination as the application for asylum, a new asylum merits interview conducted by an asylum officer (AO), and the use of a status conference in […]
USCRI Calls for DHS Investigation of the Unlawful Detention of Unaccompanied Children in Hotels
Nelson Mandela wrote, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than how it treats its children.” The United States continues to lose its way in how we treat the unaccompanied children fleeing the intractable violence, endemic poverty, and widespread lawlessness of the countries located in the Northern Triangle—Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. […]
