ACLU Statement on Biden Asylum Commitments

WASHINGTON — In regards to President-elect Biden’s commitment to restoring asylum at the southern U.S. border, the ACLU Director of Immigrants’ Rights Project Omar Jadwat, said:

“Every day the Trump administration’s anti-asylum policies remain in place, our country puts peoples’ lives at risk. It is the Biden administration’s moral and legal imperative to expeditiously roll back all these Trump era policies, in order to restore the right to asylum and end the government’s ongoing violations of law.

“The ACLU welcomes and supports the commitments the incoming administration has made to end Trump policies and bring fairness to the asylum system. Following through on those commitments requires that the new administration immediately begin to safely process people seeking protection, ensure that no person is subjected to unlawful policies — like forced return to Mexico — and repair the damage Trump wreaked with the high sense of urgency required when life and death is at stake.”