TLDR: Requiring asylum seekers to make an appointment from their country of origin to seek asylum contradicts the very essence of asylum laws. The Administration’s new “parole” program flies in the face of human rights.
Asylum protections are supposed to prevent asylum seekers at points of entry from being sent back to places where they face persecution.
“The right to seek asylum — or safety from persecution — in another country was born out of the tragedies of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust. In its aftermath, dozens of nations committed to never again slam the door on people in need of protection. The right to asylum was enshrined in 1948’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and then again in the Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol.”
Seeking asylum is a human right as stated in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” The United States Refugee Act of 1980 further protects people who are fleeing persecution on “account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular group, or political opinion.”
Seeking asylum at points of entry is, in fact, a “right way” to seek legal entry into the United States. However, multiple federal administrations have attempted through administrative policies to thwart asylum protection laws. In fact, when people attempt to seek asylum the “right way” at ports of entry, they instead often are separated from their families; criminalized; detained; sent back to unsafe and dehumanizing conditions— or expelled in the name of “public health.”
On January 5, President Biden stated, “If you’re trying to leave Cuba, Nicaragua or Haiti, or have agreed to begin a journey to America, do not, do not just show up at the border.” The Biden Administration announced its intention to discourage asylum seekers from traveling to points of entry while it also announced plans to “parole” 30,000 asylum seekers a month from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Haiti. This parole would allow a temporary relief for two years and only provide a work authorization to asylum seekers who meet strict criteria: to be “paroled” into the US, asylum seekers must have the financial means to pay for a flight; pass a background check; make an appointment using the CBP One mobile application (Customs and Border Protection mobile portal for scheduling CBP services); and have a qualifying sponsor in the US who can demonstrate they have the financial ability to support the asylum seeker.
These additional requirements restrict access to the right to seek asylum and create a burden on a population who is already facing precarious circumstances. To further deter asylum seekers from coming to points of entry or seeking other unauthorized methods of entry additional border enforcement tools will be mobilized, such as applying a Trump era “transit ban;” expedited removal; and expanding the use of Title 42 by returning as many as 30,000 asylum seekers from the four named countries back to Mexico.
Ultimately, the essence of asylum is to protect people who say “My life is in danger. I need to get out,” stated Margaret Cargioli, a lawyer with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center. Senior policy analyst at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, Mary Miller Flowers, said, “The right to asylum should not hinge on your manner of flight from danger or your financial means,” Flowers continued. “Yet, for far too long, seeking safety is treated as a privilege for a select few, and the Biden administration’s cherry-picking of who can and cannot access protection proves this.” Senator Bob Menendez further said, “This benefit will exclude migrants fleeing violence and persecution who do not have the ability or economic means to qualify,” and called the new policies “merely an attempt to replace our asylum laws, and thousands of asylum seekers waiting to present their cases will be hurt as a result.”
We need humane processing for all asylum seekers because real lives are in peril. There are already asylum seekers from various countries who have been waiting for months at the border to be processed for asylum including families with children. These new requirements will further entrap them into staying in dangerous and inhumane conditions because they are either not from one of the designated countries for parole or do not meet the additional criteria as required and have nowhere else to seek safety. Implementing burdensome requisites to seek lawful entry that forces asylum seekers to stay in unsafe circumstances is a complete disregard of the spirit of asylum protection and the inherent dignity of people seeking safety. Through this latest policy initiative, the Biden Administration unfortunately continues the ongoing US fixation on deterring and restricting asylum claims, rather than the safety and humane processing of asylum seekers.