Public Comments Urge the Biden Administration to Rescind the Latest Asylum Ban
Summary of Widespread Support for Rescinding the June 2024 Asylum Ban
In June 2024, the Biden Administration issued a Presidential Border Proclamation and an Interim Final Rule (IFR) titled “Securing the Border” (June 2024 Asylum Ban), which was issued by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Joint analysis of the Proclamation and IFR outlines how it will ban the majority of people who arrive between ports of entry from asylum, among other key provisions. Over 100 civil rights, human rights, faith-based, immigrant rights and climate organizations, including Black-led, Indigenous, and LGBTQI+, organizations expressed their opposition to these measures and more than 20 Members of Congress publicly objected to the Biden Administration’s June 2024 Asylum Ban. The strong support for rescinding the IFR reflected in the formal comments is particularly striking given the unduly limited 30-day comment period, which also included a major summer holiday.
After the Border Proclamation and IFR were published, organizations immediately issued joint analysis, policy briefs, explainers, and FAQs detailing the adverse consequences and harms it would inflict on people seeking protection. Human Rights First documented the immediate impact of the June 2024 Asylum Ban and found that during the first two weeks of its implementation, people seeking asylum were summarily deported to danger and denied asylum screenings by U.S. border officers, denied access to legal advice or representation for fear screenings, and subjected to targeted harm in Mexico while waiting up to seven months for a CBP One appointment.
The National Immigrant Justice Center and other organizations released a July report documenting the human rights and due process violations six weeks after the June 2024 Asylum Ban was implemented. An August 2024 report by Hope Border Institute, Human Rights First, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Kino Border Initiative, RAICES, and Refugees International documents the devastating impacts of the Asylum Ban’s elimination of a nearly 30-year-old safeguard to ask people subject to summary deportation whether they fear return. A filing submitted in litigation against the June 2024 Asylum Ban also documents the consequences of eliminating this safeguard.
