Forty years ago, the Refugee Act of 1980 established a formal process for welcoming asylum seekers, in addition to creating the U.S. Refugee Resettlement program. Now, as 3.5 million asylum seekers “flee persecution, war, or violence” around the world, it is becoming increasingly difficult to seek safe refuge in the United States.

The “Remain in Mexico” policy has returned over 60,000 asylum seekers to dangerous conditions in Mexico to wait out the duration of their U.S. court proceedings. While there, migrants are vulnerable to rape, kidnapping, torture, and other crimes, and they have little access to legal counsel, support, health care, or shelter.

More recently, the Trump administration has begun implementing its Asylum Cooperative Agreement with Guatemala. Over 800 asylum seekers have been sent to Guatemala to seek asylum there, despite the country’s known struggles with poverty, violence, and instability. Similar agreements have been made with El Salvador and Honduras but have not yet been put into effect. Other recent efforts to limit access to asylum include fast-track deportation proceedings, which give asylum seekers only 10 days to prepare their cases with little or no access to immigration attorneys. More than 3,700 migrants have been placed in these proceedings since the programs were first piloted in October 2019.

As these policies block vulnerable people from accessing protection and create a humanitarian crisis at the southern U.S. border, we have the opportunity to “seek justice [and] encourage the oppressed” (Isa. 1:17). Ask your Members of Congress to support welcome for asylum seekers and to oppose and defund any policies that erode that welcome.

Read a backgrounder or return to the Office of Social Justice website.

Photo by Erika Giraud on Unsplash