U.S. Senate Must Reject Efforts to Decimate Asylum and Humanitarian Parole in Supplemental Funding Negotiations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C.—As a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators continue negotiations on President Biden’s supplemental funding request this week, immigration groups are urging lawmakers to safeguard the few remaining asylum protections and other key tenets of our immigration system. Reports reflect that certain extremist senators are attempting to hold foreign aid hostage in exchange for a near total dismantling of humanitarian parole and our asylum system. Below is a statement from Karen Tumlin, Founder and Director of Justice Action Center:
“Immigration law and policy, especially in the context of their impact on human lives, deserve to be considered on their own. It is ethically and legally repugnant that certain lawmakers are attempting to permanently decimate basic protections and longstanding cornerstones of U.S. immigration policy, including the right to seek asylum and the 70+ year old humanitarian parole authority, as conditions for passing funding packages around foreign aid.
“Immigrant communities are tired of being used as political pawns, and we at Justice Action Center join other advocates in rejecting any attempt to use the lives of migrants as bargaining chips. The right to seek asylum, one of the most basic rights enshrined in domestic and international law, is non-negotiable. And as a co-counsel organization representing humanitarian parole sponsors and intervenor defendants in Texas v. DHS, we know how popular, effective, and transformative these programs are for both beneficiaries and their sponsors who are eager to welcome them.”
Justice Action Center (JAC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting for greater justice for immigrant communities by combining litigation and storytelling. JAC is committed to bringing additional litigation resources to address unmet needs, empower clients, and change the corrosive narrative around immigrants in the U.S. Learn more at justiceactioncenter.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
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