As part of negotiations over Pres. Biden’s supplemental funding request, the Senate is considering proposals that would permanently gut asylum and compromise legal immigration pathways. The following article was published in the January-February 2024 issue of NewsNotes.
Pres. Joe Biden said in a press conference on Dec. 12 that he is willing to support policy changes that immigrant rights experts say would further dismantle the U.S. asylum system, have devastating consequences at the border, and put vulnerable people at heightened risk, in exchange for Republicans in Congress to back military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Church leaders and faith-based organizations are urging Congress to reject these proposals and protect asylum.
On December 15, four Catholic bishops, chairs of committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote to Congress, urging legislators to “reject these counterproductive proposals and instead pursue bold and forward-looking solutions,” which include “targeted enforcement measures, combined with actions to modernize and increase capacity at ports of entry, as well as increasing the number of, and access to, lawful immigration pathways.” Additionally, the bishops stressed that “no sustainable reduction in irregular migration can be achieved without a long-term commitment to addressing its root causes in countries of origin.”
In a press release on Nov. 30, Susan Gunn, director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, said:
“Some of the proposals in the Senate that seem to narrow access to asylum as a political tradeoff for support for foreign aid are shocking. Let’s be clear that this is a life issue. People who seek asylum do so because they fear for their lives. Our Catholic faith teaches that anyone whose life is threatened has the right to protection. Because we value the sanctity of life, seeking asylum is a human right protected under our laws. We know that the United States has the capacity and resources to manage migration in a humane, lawful, and life-affirming manner, and to ensure a just and orderly asylum process at the border. We need Congress to build up the U.S. asylum system, not tear it down.”
Faith in action
Tell the U.S. Senate “Do not trade asylum for emergency funding.” https://mogc.info/DefendAsylum