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Banning Asylum Seekers during the COVID-19 Pandemic Endangers Lives and Violates Human Rights

As the world responds to the humanitarian and public health challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has callously and irresponsibly moved to shut down the border to people seeking asylum.

Turning our backs to children, families, and people seeking refuge makes all of us less safe and endangers more lives.

Asylum-restricting policies that were in place even before the COVID-19 pandemic have already made us less safe and less prepared: Remain in Mexico sent tens of thousands of people seeking safety to dangerous parts of Mexico to live in unsafe and inhumane conditions in precarious camps and shelters. Recent rapid-deportation border policies hold asylum-seekers for unlawfully long periods of time in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions in border facilities.

A total ban on asylum at the border will only endanger the health, safety, and lives of even more refugees and migrants and further jeopardize our collective public health.

As the U.S. addresses the humanitarian and public health challenges presented by COVID-19, immigrants and asylum-seekers must not be left behind and their human rights must be protected.

The U.S. government must immediately cease plans to shut the border to people seeking asylum and implement measures prioritizing their health and safety as it responds to the pandemic.

⬇ Make Your Voice Heard ⬇

President

DO NOT USE Joe

DO NOT USE Biden

DHS Secretary

Alejandro

Mayorkas

DHS

Dear President Trump and Acting Secretary Wolf,

As you respond to the humanitarian and public health challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, I urge you to immediately cease plans to shut the border to people seeking asylum in the United States and end policies that violate their right to seek asylum.

Turning back children, families, and people seeking refuge is not in accordance with public health guidance and will only endanger more lives and make all of us less safe. Not only does a blanket ban on asylum seekers violate U.S. domestic and international legal obligations, there is also no evidence that a ban on asylum-seekers would improve public health.

The U.S. must uphold its obligations to refugees under the law and implement measures – with the guidance and involvement of public health, refugee assistance, and medical professionals – to protect public health and the health of children, families, and individuals seeking safety here.

Specifically, I urge you to implement the following measures:

Apply to asylum-seekers the same health screening processes currently used by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for other individuals crossing the land border – including referral to health officials for additional testing of any individuals with symptoms of illness and those who have recently traveled to high-prevalence areas – and provide them health information (in their own language) on prevention, isolation, and treatment measures;

Parole arriving asylum seekers at ports of entry as expeditiously as possible, release other asylum-seekers on recognizance or using other community-based alternatives to detention, and avoid holding asylum-seekers in enclosed or densely populated spaces;

End existing anti-asylum policies at the border, including:

- The  Migrant Protection Protocols, and parole asylum-seekers subjected to it into the U.S. to reduce the significant risks of returning asylum-seekers to dangerous places where they will later be at risk of infection due to the existence of crowded encampments and shelters along the Mexico/U.S. border;
 - The Prompt Asylum Claim Review program (PACR) and the Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP);
 - The Asylum Cooperative Agreements (ACAs) with El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala; and

Coordinate and communicate with local groups to ensure that housing and transportation can be arranged for asylum-seekers upon their release.

The U.S. government must lead by protecting the health, safety, security, and other human rights of all people, and decisions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic must be driven by science and public health expertise, not baseless fear mongering and xenophobia.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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