HIAS advocates for the humane treatment of those seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. This work includes routinely organizing delegations of faith leaders to observe current conditions and partner organizations’ work along the border.
In preparation for May 11, when the Biden Administration will finally end the Trump administration’s policy of expelling asylum seekers under the pretext of a public health measure known as Title 42, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State today announced what they described as “regional migration management measures.”
HIAS is urging the House Homeland Security Committee to reject the Border Reinforcement Act of 2023, which would lead to sweeping policy changes at the U.S.-Mexico border.
HIAS strongly opposes the Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023 being marked up in the House Judiciary Committee today, and is urging committee members to reject any attempt to address challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border with draconian steps that would deny basic protections to people seeking asylum.
At least 39 people died and dozens were injured Monday night in a fire at the National Migration Institute in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, an area where HIAS is active in assisting asylum seekers.
As the public comment period draws to a close today on the Biden administration’s proposed asylum ban, HIAS has seen an unprecedented response from members of our community. Our supporters have submitted more than 5,000 comments to the federal register calling on the administration to withdraw these proposals, which would leave asylum seekers in vulnerable and potentially deadly situations at the border and straying away from his initial campaign promises.
On February 21, the Biden Administration proposed a series of policies which together, advocates claim, would result in a virtual asylum ban at the U.S.-Mexico border. HIAS Vice President for U.S. Policy and Advocacy Naomi Steinberg explains what this means and how it would impact asylum seekers.
HIAS is condemning proposed policies introduced today by the Biden administration that would amount to a virtual asylum ban. The change would deny access to protection to most people who have not already applied for protection in any other country they passed through on their journey to the United States, or to those who entered the United States without inspection and authorization.
On January 5, the Biden administration announced that Title 42 — the public health order that was invoked by the Trump administration at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, which in essence stops most people from seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border — would be expanded.
HIAS assailed President Biden’s deeply flawed and outrageously inequitable plan to expand Title 42 border expulsions of asylum seekers and allow up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua who have sponsors in the U.S. to enter the country temporarily as humanitarian parolees – but only if they fly to U.S. airports.