Global Refuge Opposes Congressional Efforts to End Asylum Protections in Budget Negotiations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 29, 2023

Contact: Tim Young | timothy.young@globalrefuge.org

Washington, D.C. – As a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators continue negotiations this week on President Biden’s $106 billion supplemental funding request, Global Refuge urges lawmakers to safeguard critical asylum protections as Senate Republicans seek drastic changes to immigration policy in exchange for national security funding to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

Specifically, their proposal would deny asylum to migrants who travel through a third country, limit the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole authority, revive the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, and reinstate Title 42-like powers to allow for expulsion of asylum seekers without due process.

In response to the ongoing negotiations, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refuge, said:

“This conflation of border policy with foreign aid is a morally dubious quid pro quo that would functionally end longstanding and lifesaving asylum protections. Such demands expose the cognitive dissonance of rushing aid to those in need abroad while refusing to do so for vulnerable people at our nation’s own doorstep.”

“The reality of massive global displacement demands that we reevaluate the quixotic project of deterring migration by any means necessary, and instead focus on managing it through a fair and efficient system of robust legal pathways aligned with our nation’s humanitarian values and economic needs. Reasonable minds can disagree on what the substance of such changes might look like, but it should be a stand-alone effort founded on shared values of dignity and the rule of law – one that recognizes the humanity of immigrants and their contributions to the strength of our culture, economy, and communities.”

“Legislators have a responsibility to reckon with their decades-long failure to reform our immigration system in a deliberate and dedicated manner. Trading bedrock human rights away out of perceived political expediency, however, would be an unprecedented abdication of our nation’s moral and legal obligations – and the very antithesis of principled leadership.”