Not all have valid passports, access to a cell phone, reliable Wi-Fi or a willing sponsor in the U.S. in order to take advantage of pathways to enter the country, Vignarajah said. For many, their best option is to make an often dangerous journey to the U.S. border to seek asylum.
“That is a high hurdle to clear — one that borders on a wealth test for some of the most vulnerable children and families facing immediate danger,” she said.
Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, said his organization is old enough to remember a time before the U.S. had laws allowing people to seek asylum in the country. Hetfield pointed to 1939, when he said the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration refused to allow a ship carrying 900 Jewish passengers who were fleeing Nazi Germany to dock in Florida. It returned to Europe, where 254 of those passengers perished in the Holocaust.
That’s why the United Nations established — and the U.S. adopted — the Refugee Convention, he said, “asserting that never again, would people be trapped inside of their country of persecution.”
The Biden administration’s proposal would place the asylum laws the U.S. now has “out of reach” for many, Hetfield said, which he called “illegal” and “immoral.”
And that “hits home” for many faith-based organizations, “who’ve been serving some of the most vulnerable for decades,” Vignarajah added.
“This isn’t charity for us. This is how our supporters live out their faith and answer that higher call to welcome the stranger in need.”
This article originally appeared here.
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