SPLC Submits Public Comments on Biden Administration’s Proposed Asylum Ban

ATLANTA – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) submitted public comments today in opposition to the Biden administration’s Proposed Rule entitled “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways,” which would severely restrict access to asylum for thousands of otherwise eligible migrants and their families.

The following statement is from Efrén C. Olivares, deputy legal director of the SPLC’s Immigrant Justice Project: 

“The new asylum ban proposed by the Biden administration is a replica of Trump-era asylum bans in direct violation of long-established U.S. and international laws. Placing difficult and unfair barriers before migrants fleeing persecution is indefensible. It violates our nation’s laws and international commitments, and it would amount to abandoning our long-held aspiration to become a safe haven for anyone seeking asylum.

“Access to asylum has not and cannot be dependent on an individual’s ability to access a limited number of slots through a glitchy mobile app. Requiring migrants to wait in Mexico until they can secure an appointment through the CBP One app is unfair and inequitable — especially for Black, LGBTQ+ and Indigenous migrants who face racial bias and language-access barriers within the app. Further, requiring migrants to first seek asylum in another country, like Mexico, where violence against migrants has been well-documented, is morally unconscionable and practically unrealistic.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center urges the Biden administration to abandon this misguided, inhumane and discriminatory asylum ban.” 

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