On January 26, 2024, President Biden put out a statement calling on Congress to pass a budget bill with extreme immigration cuts that will devastate the US asylum process. The bill would prevent fair asylum, devastate due process, and exacerbate unsafe conditions at the border that fuel human trafficking. Many of these policies were in place under the Trump Administration and early Biden Administration and resulted in unlawful deportations of refugees and human rights abuses.
We know that when dangerous border policies force people into camps along the border, restrict access to safety for people fleeing persecution and trafficking, and erode due process, people become more vulnerable to human trafficking. When people cannot reach safety due to illegal expulsions and entry restrictions, they will turn to unsafe means to help themselves and their families. Enforcement-only policies do not “secure the border.” They create vulnerabilities and desperation that traffickers target.
FNUSA has spoken out against previous attempts to restrict asylum and joined over 200 experts denouncing this dangerous plan. We do not need harsher border restrictions; we need a safe, humanitarian immigration system that does not put people purposefully in harm’s way. FNUSA opposes any attempts to restrict asylum, expand immigration detention, or decrease access to legal pathways to immigration.