Washington, DC – The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) called on President Joe Biden to rescind his executive order restricting the access of asylum seekers to the country. The order, issued yesterday, effectively closes the southern border when crossings exceed 2,5000 daily.
Contact Tim McHugh: media@fcnl.org, 202-903-2515
“This unjust executive order runs counter to our core Quaker values, our values as a nation, and international humanitarian law. We are and can be better than this,” said Bridget Moix, FCNL’s general secretary. “Asylum seekers deserve protection and a welcome that allows them to establish themselves while contributing to their new communities. We must address the root causes of forced migration, restore the right to asylum, and ensure a just, safe, and orderly processing at the border.”
As the long-standing Quaker Statement on Migration reads, a nation must ensure “welcome, inclusion, dignity, shared security, sanctuary, love, and compassion, as needed, because we are all part of the same human family whether we migrate or not.”
President Biden’s recent executive order fails to meet any of those standards. The southern border will not re-open until daily encounters between ports of entry are lower than 1,500 migrants for 14 days straight. Biden based this order on sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration Nationality Act, some of the same codes former president Donald Trump used to justify a Muslim ban.
“Love thy neighbor, no exceptions, means no exceptions. Yet, the unceasing attacks against asylum seekers with policies serving as border walls continues. They overwhelmingly impact brown and Black asylum seekers,” said Anika Forrest, FCNL’s legislative director for domestic policy. “Political posturing at the expense of lives is a dangerous precedent. Our laws can not and do not impose arbitrary restrictions based on when one knocks on the door of refuge.”
To learn more, please visit www.fcnl.org.
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