#justiceOPportunity Thursday: March 12, 2020

It’s #justiceOPportunity Thursday, and the U.S. asylum system is under attack. The current administration has blocked families and children seeking protection and instead is delivering them to life-threatening dangers – through the administration’s cruel “Remain in Mexico” (or Migration Protection Protocol) policy that unlawfully returns asylum seekers to Mexico while their case is adjudicated; launching programs like PACR and HARP to fast-track asylum adjudications that are a wholly inadequate and unlawful substitute for a fair and meaningful asylum process, turning away asylum seekers at the border, “metering” entry and forcing asylum seekers to wait months to even apply for protection, refouling asylum seekers to unsafe countries in Central America, and categorically denying asylum to those fleeing their homes by traveling through another country.

All people have the legal right to seek a safe place to call home, and seeking asylum is protected within U.S. and international law. We must demand that our Members of Congress defend our values and decry these policies. Right now, Congress is considering federal funding for FY 2021. It is critical that all Members of Congress hear loud and clear that their constituents want to see them defund anti-asylum policies and restore the U.S. asylum system. Here are the top two ways to take action:

Call Your Members of Congress: https://greateras1.org/take-action-join-national-call-in-day-on-wednesday-march-10th-to-tell-congress-to-welcome-asylum-seekers-and-restore-lifesaving-asylum-protections/

Sample Script: “I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN]. As you consider federal funding for fiscal year 2021, [as a person of faith] I urge you to stop funding the administration’s inhumane and cruel policies that are dismantling the asylum system, and instead restore and strengthen it by co-sponsoring the Refugee Protection Act (H.R.5210 / S.2936) and the Asylum Seeker Protection Act (H.R.2662). I am outraged by the administration’s Migration Protection Protocol and the Asylum Cooperative Agreements, forcibly returning people to so-called “safe third countries” where they continue to face harm, as well as the PACR & HARP tent courts that violate due process. My community welcomes asylum seekers and immigrants, and I urge you to do the same.”

#Faith4Asylum