The Kino Border Initiative was one of the 37 organizations who sent a letter to the Biden administration to oppose efforts to preserve Title 42 and keep his promise to welcome those seeking safety. Read below.
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We Are Ready to Welcome Asylum Seekers: Border and Front-line Welcoming Providers and Advocates Oppose Keeping Title 42 in Place
April 22, 2022
“The undersigned border and front-line legal and social services, faith-based, and humanitarian organizations join today to state clearly and unequivocally that barriers to asylum, such as Title 42, must end once and for all along the U.S.-Mexico border. We stand ready as border communities from the Rio Grande Valley to mid-Texas, El Paso/New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California to coordinate and collaborate with the federal government and to welcome asylum seekers and migrants, as we have done for decades before these inhumane and illegal policies were enacted.
We oppose any attempts, whether by Congress or the Biden administration, to keep Title 42 in place. There was never a public health justification for this policy. For over two years, Title 42 has deprived thousands of asylum seekers of the opportunity to seek safety in our country, sowed chaos, and created extreme danger along the border in Mexico.
We call on elected officials to work with the administration to restore fair, humane and orderly asylum access, including at our ports of entry.
Seeking asylum is a human right for all fleeing persecution regardless of their nationality, religion, or skin color. As the Biden administration takes steps to reopen ports of entry to all asylum seekers, which is required by domestic and international law, we call on federal agencies to continue closely working with us to ensure people are processed in a dignified and humane manner. It is completely false to say “there is no plan”: our expertise and experience, combined with FEMA and DHS’s much-improved logistical readiness, are proven to work. We call on Congress to support these efforts and regularly consult our organizations, rather than craft laws that would deny life-saving protection to migrants.”
Al Otro Lado
Angry Tias and Abuelas of the RGV
Arizona Justice For Our Neighbors
Asylum Seeker Network of Support, Inc.
Austin Border Relief
Border Organizing Project
CARECEN SF – Central American Resource Center of Northern California
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Fellowship Southwest
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative
Humanitarian Outreach for Migrant Emotional Health (H.O.M.E.)
Innovation Law Lab
International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)
International Rescue Committee
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA
Jewish Family Service of San Diego
Kino Border Initiative
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG)
Puentes de Cristo a Presbyterian Border Ministry
RAICES
Refugee Health Alliance
Southern California Immigration Project
Team Brownsville
Texas Civil Rights Project
The Inn of Southern Arizona
The Sidewalk School
Witness at the Border
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