An asylum ban is coming, but it’s not too late to fight back

By Hannah Smalley, Advocacy and Education Coordinator

Last Tuesday, the Biden administration released a notice of proposed rulemaking detailing new immigration regulations that amount to an asylum ban at the US-Mexico border. Asylum seekers who enter the United States between ports of entry or who present themselves at a port of entry without a previously-scheduled appointment will be presumed to be ineligible for asylum unless they applied for and were denied protection in a country they traveled through on their way to the United States. 

This rule would force asylum seekers to apply for asylum in countries they pass through on their way to the U.S., countries that lack the infrastructure to resettle them and the social conditions to guarantee their safety. If they do not do so, they must schedule an appointment in advance with the CBP One smartphone app. The app is notoriously unreliable under the best of circumstances, and even more so for asylum seekers fleeing life threatening conditions, many of whom journey to the border without a cellphone, much less a smartphone with reliable internet access. 

Both international and federal law state that the U.S. cannot return people to face persecution, torture, or gross human rights violations. U.S. law states that asylum seekers have the right to seek protection regardless of how they arrived here. Federal courts have previously struck down a similar Trump-era measure. While the Biden administration has attempted to distinguish its asylum ban from Trump’s policies, it still has the same effect: denying asylum seekers lifesaving protection in the United States. 

This policy will disproportionately affect Black, indigenous and poor asylum-seekers. People from poor, tumultuous countries with lots of Black and brown residents are less likely to have access to entry visas, leaving them with no choice but to enter between ports of entry. Most often, the transit countries described in the rule are Mexico and Guatemala, which don’t have robust asylum systems and whose own residents are fleeing racism, violence, and poverty. Asylum seekers will not be safe there; Human Rights First has now tracked at least 10,250 reports of murder, kidnapping, rape, torture, and other violent attacks against migrants and asylum seekers blocked in or expelled to Mexico due to Title 42 since the Biden administration took office.

The app asylum-seekers must use to schedule appointments is rife with technological and linguistic racism. Its facial recognition feature, which must map users’ features before they can complete their registration, does not recognize Black or other dark-skinned users. As a result, Black asylum-seekers are often unable to schedule the very appointments that DHS demands they have in order to seek protection. Moreover, the app was until recently only available in English and Spanish, despite the fact that thousands of Haitian Creole speakers have been waiting in camps along the US-Mexico border for months awaiting the opportunity to seek asylum. 

Right now, the asylum ban is still a proposal. We have just 30 days to submit public comments urging the administration to reverse course. Take action NOW to restore asylum!

1️. Submit a public comment urging the administration not to go forward with the proposed asylum ban. The system flags duplicate comments, so be sure to edit or add to the template to make sure your comment counts.

2️. Post on social media about why you oppose the asylum ban. Use this digital toolkit to get started.

3️. Sign up to receive action alerts from us with both digital and in-person opportunities to speak out against the asylum ban.