NHCSL Responds to Reports that President Biden is Considering Restricting Right to Asylum

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following today’s report from The New York Times that President Biden is considering an executive order to restrict the right to seek asylum, the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) released the following statement:

“We oppose in the strongest terms the White House’s consideration of unilaterally restricting asylum by Executive action that was already found illegal by the courts when former President Trump attempted it.

“These actions would criminalize those who seek asylum, especially when we know, and so do they, it will do nothing to ameliorate or relieve the pressing need for comprehensive immigration reform or provide the funding for our states and cities that the original bipartisan Senate bill provided. It will only cause more damage, risk and ruin more lives, and put a target on our communities for nothing in return.

“This represents a failure to draft and properly implement comprehensive immigration reform, to have a robustly funded Department of Homeland Security, by curbing human rights law and putting families in harm's way to appease political extremism. It turns the Nation’s back on the economic growth spearheaded by immigrants and paves the road towards breaking with the American tradition of being a safe haven to those escaping oppression and danger and bearing the standard of liberty in the world.

“The right to seek asylum is not a crime or a political toy. It’s also not a bargaining chip to use when it’s politically convenient. Seeking asylum is a right, one that can mean life or death to a lot of people, children, families, and must be treated as such.”

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The National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) is the premier national association of Hispanic state legislators working to design and implement policies and procedures that will improve the quality of life for Hispanics throughout the country. NHCSL was founded in 1989 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with the mission to be the most effective voice for the more than 450 Hispanic legislators. For more information visit www.nhcsl.org.