CGRS Decries Expansion of Draconian Asylum Shutdown

Today the Biden-Harris administration announced the final version of its rule shutting down access to the asylum process at the U.S. southern border. First introduced in June 2024, the shutdown rule closes the door to most people seeking safety, in direct violation of U.S. law, which states anyone may apply for asylum regardless of where or how they come.

The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS), along with our partners at the ACLU, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and the Texas Civil Rights Project, has brought a lawsuit challenging the shutdown rule, which repackages elements of failed Trump-era border policies that were rightly struck down by the courts.

“Rather than taking steps to comply with our laws and protect human life, the administration has doubled down,” CGRS Director Karen Musalo said today. “The final version of the rule revises the metrics used to trigger the asylum shutdown, allowing the government to keep it in place virtually indefinitely. Banning asylum and violating human rights does not ‘secure’ our border. Sending refugees to their deaths does not make anyone safer. These ‘tough’ tactics may make for compelling political soundbites, but they create more chaos and dysfunction at the border, as this administration well knows. We urge President Biden and Vice President Harris to instead adopt real solutions to the humanitarian and operational challenges at our border, including the full restoration of a fair and humane asylum process.” 

When the asylum shutdown rule was first introduced, it was met with forceful opposition by human and civil rights organizations, faith groups, U.S. members of Congress, the asylum officers’ union, and the UN Refugee Agency. As documented by human rights investigators, the rule has empowered border agents to mistreat people seeking asylum, dismiss their fears, and summarily deport them to countries where they face grave danger, in violation of U.S. laws and treaty obligations to protect refugees. The rule has also led to a disturbing increase in family separation.