PRES. BIDEN’S NEW RULE WOULD ALLOW LOW-LEVEL OFFICERS TO BAR ACCESS TO ASYLUM
“People seeking safety would face even higher standards for asylum access.”
San Antonio, TX –– In response to President Biden’s rule imposing tougher standards for people seeking safety at the border, RAICES, Texas’s largest immigration legal services provider, released the following statement:
President Biden’s proposed rule will effectively shut down the border for people and families seeking safety, all the while using problematic rhetoric that reinforces the tired trope that our country is under “threat” by the human lives fighting for a chance to survive. Our government is — yet again — misleading the American people into scapegoating immigrants while exacerbating this manufactured crisis.
President Biden’s new rule empowers border patrol and asylum agents to remove people and families seeking asylum in the U.S. at scale by diminishing what constitutes credible fear.
People and families already face impossibly high standards, including sitting down for asylum interviews in less than 24 hours — rendering it nearly impossible for them to access a lawyer in time. Without legal representation, the chances of passing the asylum interview (the first step toward having your case judged) are negligible.
This virtually unchecked power will deprive countless people of access to legal representation, due process, and a fair chance at seeking safety and relief.
“If this rule becomes practice, it will most certainly lead to yet another state-sanctioned crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border as people and families will face the increased risk of separation, removal, and further violence,” says Javier Hidalgo, Legal Director at RAICES. “Even before the introduction of these more stringent criteria, our service providers have witnessed firsthand how many people with viable claims are at risk of being screened out by this administration’s increasingly heavy standards.”
“We won’t remain silent as the Biden administration traffics in harmful tropes to justify the systematic dismantling of asylum protections in our country. Its extreme immigration policies have stepped over the line of inhumane,” adds Faisal Al-Juburi, Chief External Affairs Officer at RAICES. “The administration is purposefully misleading the American public into believing that this rule would only impact a small universe of people while creating impossible hurdles to a long-established legal process. In practice, this proposed rule would impact countless lives.”
RAICES immigration experts are available for further comments on this developing story.
RAICES, formally known as the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Headquartered in Texas and with national reach, RAICES promotes migrant justice by providing legal services, social services case management, and rights advocacy for immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking people and families. Learn more at raicestexas.org and follow us on Instagram.
