Trump Administration Puts More Nails in the Coffin of Decency and Fairness to Asylum Seekers

Statement by Refugees International’s Senior U.S. Advocate Yael Schacher on two new measures by the Trump administration that will further restrict the rights of asylum seekers:

“Today the Department of Homeland Security published a rule that would charge fees for asylum applications and for work authorization while asylum applications are pending. Another rule published today would prolong the time asylum seekers need to wait to apply for work authorization and completely bar many asylum seekers from work authorization at all. 

These measures add to a litany of Trump administration attacks on asylum seekers. While some have been more obviously brutal—criminal prosecutions of asylum seekers, prolonged detention, and separation of families or their return to danger and deprivation in Mexico—these new measures will also create unnecessary suffering and pain. They may also force destitute asylum seekers to abandon their claims and return to places where their lives or freedom will be at risk.  

Today, the Trump administration put more nails in the coffin of decency and fairness to asylum seekers.”

For a more detailed discussion of the harm caused by impeding work authorization for asylum seekers, see this letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by Senior U.S. Advocate Yael Schacher. 

 For press inquiries, contact Sarah Sheffer at ssheffer@refugeesinternational.org or 202 540 7029.