asylum seekers

Several Catholic organizations in the 55-member Interfaith Immigration Coalition voiced worries Aug. 3 that some lawmakers will attempt to include an extension of a Trump-era rule in the Inflation Reduction Act.

How does the United States maintain its reputation and conformity to international law that states it cannot return persons to perilous situations and should provide asylum-seekers a hearing, while at the same controlling its borders when vast numbers seek asylum?

Catholic leaders praised the Supreme Court’s June 30 decision that gave the Biden administration the go-ahead to rescind a Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy requiring asylum-seekers at the southwest U.S. border to wait in Mexico for their asylum hearings.

The statement released by the White House and signed by the heads of state of Mexico and several countries in Central and South America said that “migration should be a voluntary, informed choice and not a necessity,” and it makes the task of aiding migrants and refugees a shared responsibility among many nations.

The migrants were waiting at the U.S.-Mexico border for the United States to lift a health provision known as Title 42 and allow them to make asylum claims.

The much-anticipated May 23 deadline on Title 42 came and went at the U.S.-Mexico border without any changes allowing migrants in, including asylum-seekers, after a federal judge blocked the government from lifting the health measure instituted during the pandemic.

English and Welsh bishops said the U.K. government is unfairly punishing the migrants for the crimes of trafficking gangs by sending the them to Rwanda to have their asylum applications processed.

The policy in question is the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP, which requires asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico until their cases can be heard in U.S. immigration courts.