Biden and Democrats must not callously trade away the lives of people seeking asylum
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@freedomforimmigrants.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In their efforts to expand military aid to Ukraine and Israel with its supplemental funding request, the Biden administration and Democrats are reportedly caving to Republican demands to impose cruel, Trump-like immigration restrictions.
The following statement is from Andrea Carcamo, policy director with Freedom for Immigrants.
“Three years ago, voters soundly rejected Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda. But that agenda is alive and well today in the Biden White House. Trampling on the human right to seek asylum in negotiations with an extremist and xenophobic Republican party is a new low for President Biden. Fast-tracked deportations, limits on asylum, and other anti-immigrant measures will not stop people from fleeing persecution and seeking safety. Instead, these shameful policies would serve to further the assault on the U.S. asylum system and due process, all the while worsening the urgent humanitarian needs of migrants on both sides of the border. Our message to President Biden and Democrats is simple: We are watching you in this pivotal moment, and we demand you do not callously trade away the lives of people seeking safety.”
Freedom for Immigrants has long opposed the White House’s supplemental funding request due to its funding of billions of dollars toward immigration enforcement agencies. The White House requested $8.7 billion dollars in additional funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including $4.5 billion dollars for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and $2.5 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase border militarization and increase immigration detention capacity. Read FFI’s previous statement here.
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Freedom for Immigrants (FFI) is devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system. FFI monitors the human rights abuses faced by immigrants detained by ICE through a national hotline and network of volunteer detention visitors, while promoting community-based services that welcome immigrants into the social fabric of the United States. Learn more: https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/