On Monday, February 18th, Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors joined with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) by signing onto a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen opposing the “Remain in Mexico” policy affecting asylum-seekers, victims of torture and other acts of unspeakable violence.

While we seek to increase access to legal counsel for people fleeing violence in search of a safe home here in Tennessee, this policy “jeopardizes access to counsel, due process, and overall ability for a person to find safety in the United States.” The letter points out that the policy put in place by the Trump administration puts people in harm’s way and upends the notion of the rule of law at our southern border.

And while the U.S. spent the first full weekend in a state of “national emergency,” the people that the administration has characterized as a threat to the homeland have been sleeping in tents and patiently waiting for their day in court. The real emergencies are the attacks on the rule of law and the rights of people who only want to be free from the violence at home in Central America and Mexico.

Read more about the Remain in Mexico policy here.