CGRS Denounces Biden Pledge to Revive Deadly Expulsions

Today President Biden issued a statement on ongoing, closed-door Senate negotiations over radical legislative proposals that would decimate the U.S. asylum system and terrorize immigrant communities. Kate Jastram, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS), shared the following comment in response:

“President Biden’s craven political calculus has led him to champion the destruction of our asylum system and the complete abandonment of our international human rights obligations. If this bill passes, the president has pledged to immediately implement a permanent mass expulsion regime at the border akin to Trump’s grotesque Title 42 policy - which resulted in the unlawful return of refugees to conditions where they faced violence, persecution, and death. The president’s stunning assertion that these ‘reforms’ would be ‘fair’ could not be further from the truth. The proposals reportedly under consideration would eviscerate due process for people seeking asylum and make it nearly impossible for them to find protection in the United States. They would do nothing to address the urgent humanitarian and logistical challenges at our southern border and only create more chaos, insecurity, and suffering. Let us be clear: If President Biden signs this bill into law, it will cement his legacy as the president who destroyed our asylum system and delivered a death sentence to refugees fleeing persecution."