Washington, DC – As a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators negotiates President Biden’s supplemental funding request this week, faith groups are continuing to urge lawmakers to safeguard critical asylum protections. Senators are holding up funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan by demanding extreme, lasting changes to immigration policy in the supplemental funding bill. This includes poison pills that would dismantle the asylum system and further complicate the situation at the US-Mexico border.
The proposed changes to asylum would have a tremendously negative impact on migrant children, families, and other at-risk individuals who are seeking safety. Our laws have long created hope for individuals fleeing political and religious persecution, conflict, and targeted violence by explicitly providing for the legal and human right to seek asylum. Further, our diverse religious, spiritual, and ethical traditions share a common call to welcome the sojourner and protect the vulnerable. The IIC has put forward funding solutions that would protect asylum and welcome people seeking safety with dignity and compassion, and we urge lawmakers to heed them.
“Lawmakers are attempting to hold foreign aid hostage in exchange for lasting damage to deeply enshrined humanitarian protections. These extreme proposals are not serious solutions and no policymaker should accept them,” said Dylan Corbett, Executive Director of the Hope Border Institute. “Immigrants are not political pawns and cannot be held as ransom in any negotiation whatsoever. Instead, Congress must focus on fully restoring our commitment to asylum, adequately funding communities welcoming our future neighbors, and providing a pathway to work and citizenship to many of our neighbors.”
“We are disappointed that some members of Congress continue to propose drastic, hurtful changes in U.S. immigration and asylum policies in exchange for providing funding to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan,” added Pablo DeJesús, Executive Director of Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice. “Seeking such significant changes to immigration policy in the supplemental funding bill short-circuits the due diligence and debate immigration matters deserve. The current proposals are not serious and deliberate policy solutions for our outdated approach to immigration or funding the needs of our asylum system. Our Unitarian Universalist faith asks us to cherish the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and that calls us to demand better of Congress. We urge the Senate and the White House to reject proposals looking to dismantle our country’s current system or expand its enforcement infrastructure. The policy changes being proposed will endanger the lives and security of immigrants here within our borders, and beyond. Americans want a welcoming immigration system and Congress should deliver.”
Susan Gunn, Director, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, shared: “Some of the proposals in the Senate that seem to narrow access to asylum as a political tradeoff for support for foreign aid are shocking. Let’s be clear that this is a life issue. People who seek asylum do so because they fear for their lives. Our Catholic faith teaches that anyone whose life is threatened has the right to protection. Because we value the sanctity of life, seeking asylum is a human right protected under our laws. We know that the United States has the capacity and resources to manage migration in a humane, lawful, and life-affirming manner, and to ensure a just and orderly asylum process at the border. We need Congress to build up the U.S. asylum system, not tear it down.”
“Trading fundamental policies that provide protections to peoples seeking refuge is unconscionable and outrageous,” said Ronnate Asirwatham, Director, Government Relations, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. “Gutting our nation’s asylum laws permanently through backroom deals is going to result in chaos, further loss of life, and further affronts to human dignity. Instead of appeasing extremists, the Biden administration and the Senate need to remember the right to migrate and live with dignity that plays a foundational role in both U.S. history and Catholic Social Teaching.”
“To attempt to trade the rights of vulnerable populations in ongoing funding negotiations is morally reprehensible, and undermines the values our country claims to hold dear,” reflected Danilo Zak, Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy at Church World Service. “Ongoing negotiations should be about funding the government and supporting those in need, not embedding anti-immigrant, anti-family provisions into statute. Rather than continuing to use their time and position to take from the most vulnerable, Members of Congress should focus on humane solutions to promises that have been left unkept.
There is still a troubling gap in basic services for Ukrainian and Afghan humanitarian parolees who arrived after September 30th; these individuals and families have been suddenly cut off from support — placing those we pledged to protect at risk. Over 80 refugee advocacy organizations have called for these benefits to be reauthorized, and have spoken out in support of refugee funding needs and against the incorporation of anti-asylum policies. With growing displacement around the world, we must invest in our capacity to welcome the most vulnerable. It is past time for Congress to stop pursuing fruitless and harmful avenues, and instead listen to those they vowed to represent.”
Joan Rosenhauer, President of JRS/USA, shared: “With over 110 million people displaced worldwide, and new and protracted conflicts continuing to force people from their homes, now is not the time to place further restrictions on the US asylum system as a tradeoff for emergency funding to our allies. Instead, now is the time to strengthen our asylum system through investments in processing, shelter, and services, so we can respond humanely to the needs of individuals and families seeking safety in the US and keep the border secure. We urge Congress to heed the words of Pope Francis when he said that ‘a just policy is one at the service of the person, of every person involved.’ Further restricting access to asylum is at the service of a few.’’
“The tenor of the dialogue taking place as it relates to creating solutions for those seeking asylum in the United States has been troubling. To trade-off the security and protection of some lives while funding a war is deeply problematic,” said Rev. Kendal L. McBroom, Director of Civil and Human Rights of the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society. “To pit these two crises against each other is putting people and their lives on the stage of political theater. As United Methodists, in our Book of Resolutions, we stand by the fact that all people are created with dignity, regardless of their country of origin. As such, we implore Congress to protect asylum seekers and fully fund the US asylum system to ensure the protection for all.”
“When someone seeks asylum, they are going through an extremely traumatic and vulnerable period. However, they seek protections with great strength and determination,” reflected Amanda Craft, Assistant Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (USA). “New restrictions will only make it more likely that people will be deported to dangerous conditions because they failed to navigate a complicated asylum system in an unfamiliar country. Women, Black migrants, LGBTQ+ migrants, and indigenous language speakers will be particularly impacted. Our Christian faith tells us to center the voice of ‘the least of these,’ the most vulnerable people with the fewest resources. Instead of restricting asylum, Congress should robustly fund migrant services through the Shelter and Services Program and support communities that are welcoming migrants.”
Imani Cruz, Global Policy Coordinator for Migration Justice with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) stated: “We must restore and protect access to safety at our border and ensure humane treatment and welcoming policies for all of our human family. Additional funding for armed conflict, that will inevitably cause more people to seek safety as refugees/asylum seekers, cannot be traded for effectively ending asylum in the U.S. Constituents and advocates—for both migrant communities and global peace—overwhelmingly support funding to slow climate change, provide food and housing security, and expand access to healthcare NOT promoting conflict and harm at home and abroad.”
“Congress must not pit the needs of one group of vulnerable people against another in funding negotiations,” shared Sister Marie Lucey, Associate Director of Franciscan Action Network. “Our faith and Franciscan values demand that we honor the dignity and rights of migrants as well as the needs of Ukrainians, Afghans, and others. We urge lawmakers not to provide funding for foreign assistance at the expense of migrants rightfully seeking asylum. Rather than use migrants as pawns in a supplemental funding battle, Congress must strengthen our failing asylum system and fund migrant services.”
“Members of the U.S. Senate not only represent their constituents, they represent American values and the American experience. Few of us are Indigenous; most of us came or are descendants of those who came from another country in search of safety and a better life, and then contributed to a better life for all. With ties to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, an international religious congregation, the National Advocacy Center knows well the need for the legal right to seek asylum—we have sisters, lay partners and programs in 72 countries that help those in need. We call on senators to oppose anti-asylum restrictions and poison pill amendments to President Biden’s supplemental funding request,” said Fran Eskin-Royer, Executive Director, National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of over 55 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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