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Border Restrictions Lift, But Biden Administration Blocks Protection for Asylum Seekers and Children

On November 8, the Biden administration lifted the banned on nonessential travel at the United States-Mexico border, but people seeking refuge are still being blocked from safety and expelled to danger. We joined Human Rights First and other partner organizations in tracking harm to people seeking safety.

The factsheet’s key findings include:

  • Customs and Border Protection (CBP) offices at ports of entry at the Arizona-Sonora border continue to turn away people, including unaccompanied children, seeking U.S. protection.
  • While DHS claims that it lacks “capacity” to process asylum seekers at ports of entry, the agency is devoting extensive resources to daily mass-expulsions that endanger public health.
  • Title 42 expulsions at Arizona ports of entry create confusion at the border, separate families, send asylum seekers to dangerous cartel-controlled border towns in the Mexican state of Sonora, and push people seeking protection to undertake dangerous crossings.

The report also includes recommendations from the Florence Project and Human Rights First to restore U.S. compliance with domestic refugee law and international obligations.

Click here to read the report.