(RNS) — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Tuesday (June 4) dramatically limiting the number of immigrants who may apply for asylum at the southern United States border. The policy pauses entry at the border, starting Wednesday, once 2,500 illegal entries have occurred in any 24-hour period. The executive order follows two failed efforts in Congress this year to pass bipartisan immigration reforms, including a bill negotiated between Republican and Democratic lawmakers that was blocked in the Senate in January after GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized it.
Tuesday’s action by the Biden White House drew fierce backlash from agencies that partner with the federal government to resettle refugees once they are processed by the Border Patrol. Six of those nine agencies are faith-based and have a long history of advocating for immigrants.
RELATED: Biden pledges to raise refugee ceiling to 125,000 in address to Jesuit group
HIAS, one of the faith-based agencies, issued a statement denouncing the border shutdown order as “wrong” and “ineffective.”
“This is a blatant political move and won’t achieve anything the administration says it will,” said Naomi Steinberg, HIAS’ vice president of policy and advocacy. “It’s disturbing that this political maneuvering is being done on the backs of asylum-seekers and is blatantly against the law. It will not help or make the border more secure.”
Steinberg fears the executive order will force people with bona fide asylum claims to return to dangerous situations that they fled in their home countries or wait in dangerous conditions in Mexico. While the executive order claims to enforce “expanded efforts to dismantle human smuggling,” Steinberg also expressed fears the order will do the opposite, a …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Tuesday’s action by the Biden White House drew fierce backlash from agencies that partner with the federal government to resettle refugees once they are processed by the Border Patrol. Six of those nine agencies are faith-based and have a long history of advocating for immigrants.
RELATED: Biden pledges to raise refugee ceiling to 125,000 in address to Jesuit group
HIAS, one of the faith-based agencies, issued a statement denouncing the border shutdown order as “wrong” and “ineffective.”
“This is a blatant political move and won’t achieve anything the administration says it will,” said Naomi Steinberg, HIAS’ vice president of policy and advocacy. “It’s disturbing that this political maneuvering is being done on the backs of asylum-seekers and is blatantly against the law. It will not help or make the border more secure.”
Steinberg fears the executive order will force people with bona fide asylum claims to return to dangerous situations that they fled in their home countries or wait in dangerous conditions in Mexico. While the executive order claims to enforce “expanded efforts to dismantle human smuggling,” Steinberg also expressed fears the order will do the opposite, a …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]