Take Action: Speak Out Against Harmful Asylum Ban
August 2019 - In yet another attack on immigrant survivors, the administration announced in July the most restrictive asylum ban yet, barring anyone who approaches our southern border from receiving asylum, with few exceptions. The sweeping measure slams our doors to individuals, families, and unaccompanied children who are seeking safety, including survivors of gender-based violence. The ban further erodes legal protections and deepens the climate of fear that makes victims and witnesses afraid to report abuse to law enforcement which impacts all of us.
People flee their home country as a last resort after their own governments are unable or unwilling to protect them. Making our nation’s asylum system more difficult to access makes it harder for immigrant survivors to seek safety and keeps them in harm’s way. We must recommit ourselves as a nation that welcomes immigrants and offers refuge to migrants fleeing violence instead of detaining them and their children.
While a district court judge has ordered a temporary halt to the asylum ban nationwide, the administration has appealed the order and another hearing in the coming weeks will consider the full merits of the ban. Find out more about the ban in this Tahirih Justice Center statement.
In the meantime we can take action! AIS and our Co-Chair organizations are all filing comments opposing this dangerous attack on our legal asylum process and we invite you to do the same. Help us ensure that asylum protections are not stripped away from those leaving everything behind in search of safety. Submit a comment today telling the U.S. government that you oppose the new asylum ban.
here’s How to Submit Your Comment
As part of the regulatory process, the government is required to review each comment submitted, so your voice counts! Our friends at Tahirih Justice Center and The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies drafted some sample comments for individuals and organizations to use. We strongly encourage you to edit the text using your own words and stories since the government keeps track of unique comments. Please make your voice heard by Thursday, August 15 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
If you’re an individual who wants to submit a comment, visit Tahirih’s asylum ban action page, edit the Model Comment, and submit it.
If you work for an organization that wants to submit a comment, you can use these more detailed public comment templates for organizations from Tahirih and CGRS as a starting place, add your own language and stories, and submit at the Federal Register website.
Thank you for taking action and standing with immigrants!