Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network Opposes Senate Spending Bill That Would Decimate U.S. Asylum Law

Westminster, Colorado, February 5, 2024—Over the weekend, in response to a White House supplemental funding request, a small group of Senators finalized a proposed spending bill that would end asylum as we know it, putting countless people at risk of harm and death. The bill advances an anti-immigrant agenda and obfuscates this country’s obligations to protect refugees and people fleeing torture.

Mekela Goehring, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network:

“Lawmakers are bargaining with human lives, turning their backs on people seeking refuge on U.S. soil, applying the misguided belief that if we make it harder for people to access the United States, they will not come. Immigration enforcement through deterrence has never and will never work. Creating unlawful barriers to asylum based on xenophobic and racist motivations would cause a schism in the foundation of the U.S. immigration system and call into question fundamental principles of what it means to be American, where we pride ourselves on providing refuge to people in search of safety.”

Laura Lunn, Director of Advocacy and Litigation of Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network:

“People move to seek safety. Creating policies that ignore the underlying sources of instability causing people to flee for their lives is short-sighted and foolhardy. Rather than improve U.S. security, the proposed legislation would enrich criminal organizations that profit from kidnappings and violent crime targeting migrants. The Biden administration and members of Congress must prioritize humane policies over archaic blockades, increased detention, and heightened legal standards that will never prevent the natural phenomenon of human migration spurred by persecutory regimes.”

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Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Colorado, that works to ensure justice for adults and children in immigration proceedings. RMIAN empowers people through education of legal rights; provides zealous no-cost immigration legal representation to uphold fundamental fairness and due process; promotes the importance of universal representation where anyone in immigration proceedings has access to counsel despite financial barriers; and advocates for a more efficient, functional, and humane immigration system, including an end to immigration detention. Learn more about RMIAN’s work at rmian.org, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @rmian_org.