Can you imagine being born in a refugee camp? Growing up and going to school in that camp? Marrying your spouse in the same camp? And then having your children born and raised there? This unimaginable scenario unfolds every day and has been happening for decades. Refugees around the world often end up languishing in […]
Category: Headquarters
Looking Beyond Legal Complexities: A Discussion with USCRI Mexico Staff on the Impact of Changes to U.S. Border Policy on Asylum Seekers
Over the past two years, the Biden administration has made considerable changes to asylum and migrant processing at the southern U.S. border. Most recently, President Biden issued a Proclamation on “Securing the Border,” which effectively closed the U.S.-Mexico border to asylum seekers and other migrants. Along with the Proclamation, the Administration announced an interim final […]
USCRI’s Comment: Application of Certain Mandatory Bars in Fear Screenings
On May 13, 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Application of Certain Mandatory Bars in Fear Screenings.” If finalized, the NPRM would impact various populations that USCRI serves. The Proposed Rule allows Asylum Officers to apply certain asylum eligibility bars earlier in the process, making initial fear […]
Displaced and Alone: Protections for Unaccompanied Children from Haiti
This month, the global community will mark World Refugee Day to honor and stand in solidarity with refugees and those forced to flee their homes. Over 110 million people are forcibly displaced around the world; 40 percent of those people are children. As conflicts and crises become increasingly protracted and new escalations of violence erupt, […]
USCRI Condemns the Effective Closure of the Border to Asylum Seekers
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. […]
In Darfur, pledges of ‘never again’ ring hollow in the face of genocide
By Eskinder Negash This April, world leaders grimly marked the one-year anniversary of the conflict engulfing Sudan. Countries pledged more support for humanitarian aid and relief. The United Nations and others pleaded with the warring parties for the violence to stop. Yet, Sudan is already headed toward a new cataclysm, another dark chapter in the war with […]
Three Reasons to Prioritize Menstrual Health in Displacement Settings
When conflict, climate, or other extraordinary circumstances force people to flee, their access to resources and essential services cease; however, menstruation does not. Menstruation, commonly referred to as a period, is often stigmatized. Many find it awkward or unnecessary to talk about. Yet it is one of the most important conversations for the global […]
One Year After the Asylum Ban: More Barriers to Asylum Access
By the end of World War II, between 50-80 million people had been killed. An estimated 60 million more had been displaced, many of whom were attempting to seek refuge in other countries. To ensure that the consequences of World War II would never repeat, the United Nations (UN) drafted the Universal Declaration of Human […]
More Barriers to Asylum Access
Early this month, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways (CLP) rule, known as the asylum ban, the Biden administration announced actions to again reduce access to asylum in the United States. On May 13, 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) […]
U.S. Must Take Lead in Aiding Climate Migrants
By Eskinder Negash Special to The Seattle Times Two weeks after he took office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the U.S. government to study the relationship between climate and immigration. Later in 2021, the White House produced a landmark report on climate change and migration — laying out how storms, wildfires, droughts and floods can force people […]
