Immigrant-serving organizations across the United States are rallying support against the Trump administration’s new rule restricting how asylum is granted to immigrants seeking protection.
The 161-page rule is set to publish in the Federal Register today, June 15 and followed by a public comment period.
The organisations, including AsylumWorks is mobilizing supporters to respond during the public comment period.
AsylumWorks said the proposed regulations would decimate asylum law in the United States.
“If passed, these changes will undo decades of legal precedent that have long-protected refugees fleeing war, violence, and persecution. This is the culmination of a systemic campaign to end asylum protection as we know it
AsylumWorks
“Today, organizations like AsylumWorks across the nation are preparing. We are organized, educated, and ready to fight,” an official told Akatarian correspondent.
The Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit organization that advocates for immigrants fleeing gender-based violence, called the proposed changes “an assault on the fundamental right to seek asylum.”
“The rule would eliminate gender-based asylum if implemented — shutting the door to anyone fleeing life-threatening persecution due to their gender, while undoing decades of legal precedent,” the center said in a statement.
“Women fleeing rape and severe domestic violence, LGBTQ+ individuals facing deadly attacks, and those escaping other fatal gender-based harms will no longer be allowed to seek safety within our borders if the regulations take effect.
Trump Administration
Donald Trump’s presidency has closed off, or added obstacles, to the ways in which people can seek refuge in the US since inception.
The sweeping restrictions would make it easier for immigration judges to reject asylum requests out of hand.
For instance, they would harden the categories of people who face persecution for their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.
But the Justice Department said the changes “would allow the Departments to separate baseless claims from meritorious ones more effectively.
The Trump administration has been rejecting what it considers “frivolous” claims by immigrants who say they’re fleeing criminal gangs or an abusive spouse.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship Chair Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., criticized the proposed changes as “abhorrent, un-American, and illegal.
“This President is attempting to rewrite our immigration laws in direct contravention of duly enacted statutes and clear congressional intent.”
Nadler and Lofgren said in statement.
“In this historic moment, preserving the rule of law and nation’s long tradition of asylum-seeking is crucial. We can and must continue to be a beacon of hope and freedom across the world.”
