Trump now attacks asylum seekers
Having altered or attacked America’s protections for refugees and undocumented immigrants, President Trump found a new target: asylum seekers. On Friday, Trump signed a proclamation denying asylum to immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally through the southern border with Mexico.
Under federal law, immigrants are allowed to request asylum whether they enter the country illegally or present themselves at ports of entry.
The Trump administration’s rule changes would prevent those who enter the country illegally from making an asylum claim, placing them in expedited deportation proceedings instead. It first began considering the move before the midterm elections.
“Our asylum system is overwhelmed with too many meritless asylum claims from aliens who place a tremendous burden on our resources, preventing us from being able to expeditiously grant asylum to those who truly deserve it,” said acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in a joint statement.
These claims are cruel and baseless. The way for our government to learn if an asylum claim has merit is for the asylum seeker to ... go through the onerous process of seeking asylum.
And though the rule change was aimed at the caravan of families from Central America moving slowly toward the U.S. border, it has enormous implications for asylum seekers of all kinds.
The United States’ rules for asylum seekers were developed in cooperation with the United Nations and are protected by federal law. If Trump’s administration is allowed to change the rules for one group of asylum-seekers, it may try to do that for all of them.
As often happens with Trump’s reckless executive decisions, this one was almost immediately met with a legal challenge. Hours after Trump signed the proclamation, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit arguing that the new rules are against the law.
“Consistent with its international obligations, Congress was specific and clear: Entering without inspection is not a basis to categorically deny asylum to refugees,” the ACLU said in its legal filing.
The court needs to act quickly and remind the Trump administration that it must follow existing national law.
Denying an entire category of people their rights under asylum also has enormous implications for the U.S.’s fast-eroding position as the world’s champion of tolerance and human rights.
Once a beacon for people seeking to escape crushing poverty and repressive governments, the Trump administration is now saying the country won’t help those in need. It’s a pathetic and petty statement from a nation that once understood the value of human rights and generosity.