Washington, DC – The Washington Post is reporting that, once again, the Trump administration is putting more roadblocks into the asylum process, starting with a pilot program in El Paso to fast-track asylum screenings and make it more difficult for migrants to consult with attorneys. The goal is to ensure that fewer and fewer people are granted protection from persecution—no matter what horrors they fled—in the United States.
This comes at the same time the Administration has cut refugee resettlement numbers to the lowest in history, and erected additional hurdles to make it unlikely we will meet this stingy goal of 18,000 in FY 2020 (down from an historic average of 95,000 per year).
“The Trump administration has said no, a million times and a million ways, to protecting refugees and asylum-seekers. But Jesus was a refugee. To reject refugees is to miss the point entirely from Christ’s message of love for one another,” said Katie Adams, Domestic Policy Advocate for the United Church of Christ and Co-Chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC).
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of 53 national, faith-based organizations brought together across many theological traditions with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual. In partnership, we work to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of all refugees and migrants.
Follow us on Twitter @interfaithimm
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