Trump's Illegal Asylum Ban Is Now Biden's Illegal Asylum Ban
What does it mean for asylum-seeking families and children?
When Stephen Miller came into the White House as Trump’s Senior Adviser he had about 50 ideas to curtail immigration. Most of them were illegal. Included on his “wish list” was a unilateral policy that barred everyone, no matter their country of origin, from seeking asylum at the US border if they hadn’t first applied for, and been denied, asylum in a country through which they transited.
Called a “transit ban” it was really an asylum ban — the most far-reaching of Miller’s dogged attempts to assassinate the right to asylum in the US and block the flow of humanity hoping to find safety at the US-Mexico border.
Candidate-Biden assailed it as unlawful. It took two separate federal courts to finally strike it down.
Yet, today, President Biden confirms he will resurrect the asylum ban as of tomorrow, May 11, 2023, completing his pivot back to the worst policies of the Trump era.
What does it mean for asylum-seeking families and children?
To answer that question, I turn the mic over to Witness at the Border's Margaret Seiler. In this heartbreaking discussion, Alex Miller, Director of the Immigration Justice Campaign at the American Immigration Council, and Casey Revkin, Executive Director and co-founder of migrant child advocacy nonprofit, Each Step Home, give us insights based on first-hand experiences as to what inhumanity we can expect when Title 42 expires and the sweeping asylum restriction, originally cooked up by Stephen Miller, goes back into effect.
Will it mean more family separation? Will it result in continued expulsions? Will it lead to more mass detention and deportation?
Listen to this future From the Borderlands podcast episode 👆, published today exclusively for my Substack and Patreon subscribers and invited guests. If you aren't already a podcast patron, please click the link and consider becoming one now. It's no more expensive than a fancy coffee at your fave cafe!
With big thanks to Margaret, Alex, and Casey.
In solidarity ✊,
Sarah
Thanks, Sarah!