Appropriations

Faith-Based Border Policy Recommendations

by |Published
June 2019

Representing more than 50 faith-based organizations, we believe our moral standing as a society can be measured by our actions toward those most vulnerable among us. A deterrence and enforcement-only strategy at our border has had chaotic and devastating impacts on arriving asylum seekers and is, in many ways, fueling the very migration it seeks to reduce. We call on the administration and Congress to enact humane, efficient, consistent, and just policies that will uphold the dignity of all God’s people.

Address the root causes of forced migration and displacement

  • Increase support for effective programs that strengthen justice systems, spur economic opportunities, and safeguard communities from climate displacement so that people do not need to flee in search of safety or survival.
  • Use principled and strong diplomacy to urge governments to address rampant corruption and spur improvements in protecting human rights and strengthening rule of law, including by enforcing human rights and anti-corruption conditions on aid as well as levying sanctions on corrupt officials.
  • Ensure U.S. foreign assistance does not go toward supporting human rights violators, increasing militarization, or otherwise exacerbating existing push factors which drive people to leave their homes

Improve and expand access to refugee protections in the United States

  • Restore the original Central American Minors (CAM) program that offered a chance for children to find safety in the United States and reunify with a parent—without undermining access to asylum in the United States or at a U.S. border. 
  • Increase refugee resettlement to provide Central American refugees with much-needed alternatives to making the long journey north to claim asylum at the U.S./Mexico border.
  • Strengthen Mexico’s refugee system by providing assistance to international and civil society organizations such as UNHCR in order to strengthen Mexico’s capacity to process asylum claims.
  • Invest in critical U.S. programs that aid unaccompanied children by fully funding the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to ensure that the agency can provide the full continuum of care and community-based services, as well as to reunify children with their family members, from whom they were separated, and sponsors, for all populations in its care.

Uphold access to asylum in a manner that offers a genuine humanitarian response and upholds U.S. and international law

  • Expeditiously process all asylum seekers at—and between—ports of entry.
  • End the Remain in Mexico (“Migration Protection Protocols”) and “metering” policies that push people to cross between ports of entry and put the lives of asylum seekers at risk as they wait in what are often dangerous situations in Mexico.
  • Reverse Department of Justice rulings that deny protection to those who have fled domestic violence and gang violence and that deny bond hearings to asylum seekers who entered between ports of entry.
  • Resist proposals to remove protections for vulnerable children provided by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and the Flores Settlement Agreement. Allowing unaccompanied children to be deported more quickly risks returning them to the very violence and exploitation they fled. Undermining the Flores agreement would wrongfully expand family and child detention in jail-like conditions.
  • Reject policies that charge a fee or restrict work authorization for people seeking safety from violence and persecution.
  • Ensure only asylum officers conduct credible fear interviews (CFIs) and that they receive the proper training and support to uphold access to asylum protections. This includes the necessary translation services available for CFIs.

Prioritize real humanitarian support for asylum seekers, immigrants, and other vulnerable populations

  • Invest in legal representation initiatives to ensure all asylum seekers have the resources they need to meaningfully seek protection at the earliest stages of the process.
  • Institute universal Legal Orientation Programs (LOPs)—including for families released from DHS or CBP custody—to explain appearance obligations, the legal system, and how to secure counsel. Such programs have been proven to increase court appearance rates.
  • Improve partnerships with and increase resources for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other service providers to ensure a robust humanitarian response. This includes providing DHS with grant-making authority to financially support service providers during periods of influx and ensuring NGOs can provide the necessary humanitarian support and services to vulnerable migrants without fear of or retaliation and harassment from CBP or ICE officials.

Ensure humane, just, and orderly treatment of all asylum seekers, migrants, and people seeking safety

  • Ensure access to lawyers and humanitarian services and ensure all people are released with correct documents. Allow legal and humanitarian service providers access to all CBP facilities in order to administer Legal Orientation Programs/Know Your Rights presentations, to properly represent clients, and to coordinate travel and family reunification for asylum seekers. Ensure all people are processed and released with correct and full documentation and with full knowledge of the next steps of their claim.
  • Establish more orderly and humane release procedures between DHS and local NGOs by providing ample, regular notice before releases and ensuring safe release conditions.
  • Ensure short-term processing facilities adhere to strict standards in order to maintain the safety and wellbeing of those in DHS custody. Facilities must have licensed child welfare professionals, medical professionals and interpreters and must be fully equipped with potable water, appropriate food, separate and enclosed bathrooms/showers, and individual beds/cots. Short-term processing centers must not exceed custody time limits and must not function as additional child/family detention centers. All processing centers must provide timely medical screenings conducted by licensed medical care providers.
  • Fully restore the Family Case Management Program (FCMP) which supports court appearance and compliance. This casework should be operated by non-profit entities.
  • End family detention immediately and redirect resources into humane alternatives for asylum seekers and other vulnerable populations. Children should never be incarcerated or needlessly separated from a parent.
  • End criminal prosecution of asylum seekers (such as unlawful entry, 8 U.S.C. §1325, and reentry, 8 U.S.C. §1326) which have skyrocketed over the past decade and made us less safe by diverting resources from real public safety threats and overwhelming federal courts.
  • Rescind the April 2018 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which requires HHS to share the immigration status of potential sponsors for UACs with DHS, leading the population of UACs in shelters to increase significantly as sponsors fear coming forward.
  • Make publicly available regular DHS reports on the number of processing centers in operation, the population size in each center, the average length of stay in each center, and the average length of stay in all Border Patrol short-term detention facilities.
  • Invest in upgrades to ports of entry along the border that would include additional scanning technology to better facilitate cross-border movement of people and goods.
  • Adequately staff ports of entry to maintain efficient cross-border travel and require robust training for CBP officers to properly and efficiently process migrants at ports of entry.

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