Write a Public Comment to Oppose the Proposed Biden Asylum Ban
THIS CAMPAIGN HAS ENDED.
The Biden Administration is taking comments on a proposed asylum ban. NETWORK justice-seekers recognize it as a new version of a harmful Trump-era anti-asylum seeker policy and are coming together to oppose the proposed asylum ban. Join us and write a Public Comment to oppose the proposed Biden asylum ban!
March 9-27
THIS CAMPAIGN HAS ENDED.
This campaign is to oppose a proposed Biden Administration asylum policy change that would violate our faithful call to welcome our neighbor and decades old U.S. immigration law. Write a Public Comment to oppose the proposed Biden Administration asylum ban to stand in solidarity with our siblings seeking safety from harm at the southern border.
- Introduce yourself. Be sure to include your religious order, career title, or any involvement in your community, including a house of worship you may attend.
- Choose a reasons or two why you oppose the policy. Need some help? Scroll below for Talking Points, but don’t rely too much on them!
- Highlight why you oppose the proposed ban Share any immigration support work you’ve done, share a moral tale, use examples of Jesus welcoming travelers or God sending people on safe passages.
- If you have a story to share, share it! Asylum seekers have found safety in our communities, churches, workplaces, etc. Do you have a personal story, or will you share one that belongs to a friend or family member?
Here’s what to do after you’ve written your public comment:
- Check for uniqueness. Before you press send, check to be sure that at least one-third (33%) of your public comment is original to you. Submissions that are copy and paste regurgitations of talking points will not be considered by reviewers.
- Share your submission on social media: After you submit your form, you will see a prompt to share your advocacy action on Twitter or Facebook. It’s important that our words spread, so please take the time to share on one your social media accounts. #ImmigrationPublicComment or #NoAsylumBan or @NETWORKlobby. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at [email protected].
More Talking Points
- President Biden’s Administration has proposed a new asylum ban that is eerily similar to one that existed in the Trump era. It will close the southern border to asylum seekers and change asylum law and practice as we know it. During the Trump era, the court declared such a ban illegal. This ban will separate families, expose asylum seekers to violence at the border, and discriminate against black, brown and indigenous asylum seekers
- Our neighbors seeking asylum are amongst the most vulnerable people in the world and we are called by faith, and our sense of the common good, to welcome them to safety. U.S. immigration law provides a legal process to apply for safety in our country. Sadly, President Biden’s revival of an asylum ban similar to President Trump’s is a moral failure that disregards decades of settled law.
- NETWORK supporters will come together to show solidarity to migrants and oppose the Biden Administration asylum proposal by writing a Public Comment against the harmful policy.
- While the administration has attempted to distinguish its asylum ban from Trump’s policies, it still has the same effect: denying asylum seekers the protection they need in the United States. The rule they are proposing would ban many refugees from asylum protection in the United States based on their manner of entry into the United States and transit through other countries.
- This asylum ban, like Trump’s, will separate families and lead to the return of asylum seekers to harm and possible death. It will disproportionately harm Black, Brown, and Indigenous asylum seekers requesting safety at the U.S. southern border – who often cannot afford to arrive in the U.S. by plane.
- Indigenous women and girls, many of whom will likely be barred by the rule, are at heightened risk for sex and human trafficking, extortion, and violence due to the continued erasure of their Indigenous identities, language exclusion, and ongoing discrimination they face throughout their journeys.
- Our U.S. laws and treaties protect asylum seekers and prohibit their return to persecution and torture. Our laws also explicitly guard an asylum seeker’s right to seek protection regardless of how they arrive in the United States.
- The rule would unlawfully deny protection to asylum seekers and require them to seek asylum in countries that do not have functional asylum systems and where they may still be in harm’s way.
Join the Campaign!
This campaign has ended.
Our Values Root Our Call to Welcome Our Siblings
Our communities are enriched by the diversity of experiences, cultures, and traditions that all of us, including people who are immigrants, bring to our neighborhoods. All of us want to provide our family with the food and shelter needed to live a thriving life. For too long, our immigrant siblings at the southern border have been harmed by a broken U.S. asylum system. Instead of enacting policy to build anew an equitable asylum process, the Biden Administration has chosen to make life dangerous and difficult for people seeking safety and freedom — especially Black, Brown, and indigenous people. People of faith must demand better.
More Details
The Administration is asking the public to share opinions on this rule and will consider our comments before issuing the final version. Please write a unique comment to tell them how this rule will harm asylum seekers.
The government is required to review and respond to comments in writing in the Federal Register. You can see in this proposed asylum ban that there are dozens of pages with anonymized summarizations and responses to public comments, including rules changes that were made in response to public comments. To make sure the government counts and considers your comment, please edit our pre-drafted text to make it unique – duplicate comments will otherwise be lumped together and responded to as one.
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I read and signed the letter and then I saw the instruction to personalize it which I did in 2nd posting. I hope my confusion as to the directions will not invalidate my comments. And I hope others will not make my mistake. Perhaps there needs to be caution flag to read the side panels first and then go to letter.