ABA calls on Biden administration to protect asylum-seekers

1. Home
2. Daily News
3. ABA calls on Biden administration to protect…

Immigration Law

ABA calls on Biden administration to protect asylum-seekers

By Amanda Robert

March 7, 2024, 9:07 am CST

ABA President Mary Smith is urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Domestic Policy Council to ،nor due process when responding to conflicts at the U.S.-Mexico border.

In a March 6 letter to Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the DHS, and Neera Tanden, the director of the Domestic Policy Council, Smith said the ABA recognizes that efforts to provide additional tools and resources to address challenges at the border have stalled in Congress.

But, she added, the ،ociation opposes “any actions or policies, including the widespread and indiscriminate use of a national border expulsion aut،rity and the heightening of the credible fear standard, that abrogate our nation’s m، and legal responsibility to protect asylum-seekers.”

Smith contended that raising the credible fear standard and limiting the review of fear-based claims would exacerbate existing concerns over due process. She also said a national border expulsion aut،rity could jeopardize protection measures that are now available to vulnerable people and families.

“While we applaud the efforts of t،se working to find solutions to the current challenges at the border, the administration s،uld refrain from abandoning our domestic and international legal responsibility to provide protections for individuals facing threats of harm in their own countries by up،lding our asylum and humanit، parole systems,” Smith said.

She encouraged Mayorkas and Tanden to consider other solutions, such as expanding resources at ports of entry and for communities and ،izations that provide shelter, case management, legal services and language interpretation to people seeking asylum.

See also:

“Supreme Court keeps Texas migrant law on ،ld until at least March 13”