The Trump administration’s new policy forcing asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while they await their immigration proceedings flies in the face of American values and is clearly fueled by an anti-immigrant, white supremacist agenda.

Those individuals who come to seek refuge in the U.S. deserve a chance in this country to pursue their asylum cases with the support of community-based organizations and access to attorneys. The “Remain in Mexico” policy would completely undermine their cases and, like all of the Trump administration’s measures, it is yet another policy based on fear not fact.

The only real and man-made crisis along the border is the well-documented brutal and reckless behavior by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the systematic caging of individuals, including children, in hieleras rife with intolerable conditions, which led to the recent death of a 7-year-old girl. The administration has not only neglected to hold the agency responsible for its actions but has also continued to embolden it. It’s time to defund abuse at the hands of the government.