Speak Out to Protect Asylum! 

The Trump administration's new proposed regulations will eviscerate the U.S. asylum system and would pave the way to deport nearly all adults, children, and families back to the dangers, persecution, and torture they fled. 

We only have until July 15th to submit public comments expressing our outrage and opposition to this proposed rule. We need a flood of comments against this rule to protect asylum seekers fleeing persecution.

After three years of attacking asylum seekers, the Trump administration's proposed regulations would deal a fatal blow to asylum as we know it. Asylum is a human right and we must fight back to ensure the United States is a haven for the persecuted.

Send your comment now to stop the proposed rule and protect asylum!

Complete the form with your info and see the sample comment below to help you with your comment. 

If you're an attorney who has represented asylum seekers, visit the action for attorneys to send your comment!

Below is a sample comment that you can modify with your own personal opinion and experiences. The government only reviews and counts unique comments, so DO NOT just copy and paste the sample comment. Modify the text and add your own voice to reflect your own professional expertise and personal experiences, or those of people you know, and explain why you believe the United States must offer protection to those fleeing persecution.

Sample comment:

I am writing today to express my strong opposition to the proposed rules, DHS/EOIR; RIN 1125-AA94; EOIR Docket No. 18-0002, which is one of the most devastating and comprehensive attacks on asylum seekers yet. The U.S. government has made it harder and harder for people fleeing harm in their countries of origins to find safety here, and I think this is wrong.  

I believe the United States should welcome refugees and asylum seekers into our communities because [choose one or more: our laws require it / international law and human rights norms require it / my own family came to the United States seeking safety / other reasons unique to you]. Asylum seekers make the incredibly difficult decision to upend their lives and uproot their families to seek safety and stability; once in the United States, they enrich and strengthen our communities. If this rule becomes final, the United States will no longer be a place of welcome for these brave people.

[Explain why you believe it is imperative that the United States provide a safe haven for asylum seekers fleeing harm, including your own experiences with asylum seekers or asylees who have personally impacted your life.]

The Trump administration has already begun dismantling the asylum system, returning countless asylum seekers to harm and death. I object to these rules because I fear for the lives of those who will be deported to harm, and because I object to the false assertions the administration makes throughout the proposed rules, labeling asylum seekers as fraudsters without proof and in furtherance of racist and xenophobic tropes. Implementation of these rules will irrevocably devastate the United States asylum system and leave even more asylum seekers without anywhere to turn for safety. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice should immediately withdraw their current proposal, and instead dedicate their efforts to ensuring that individuals fleeing violence are granted full and fair access to asylum protections in the United States. 

[You can end your comment here, or choose one or more of the following detailed points to personalize and add to your comment:]

• Survivors of domestic violence and gender-based harm
  I am particularly outraged to see that these proposed rules will make asylum unavailable for nearly all women, and particularly for survivors of domestic violence and gender-based harm. Violence against women is a global crisis. The United Nations reports that 35 percent of women globally have endured physical and/or sexual violence by a non-partner. Violence at the hands of partners and family members is so chronic that an average of 137 women are killed by a member of their own family every day. In many countries state protection for survivors is non-existent. It shocks the conscience for the United States to turn its back on survivors. [Explain why you believe the United States should offer asylum protections to survivors of domestic violence and gender-based harm.] 
   
• LGBTQI asylum seekers
  The proposed rules would shut LGBTQI individuals out of asylum protections, an unconscionable action when in many parts of the world being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex, means living with persistent harassment and violence. Sexual activity between two people of the same gender is still considered a crime in 70 countries. Refusing protection to those fleeing violence and harm because of their gender identity or sexual orientation will further signal to the world the United States’ eroding commitment to equality, and will sentence countless refugees to harm and even death. [Explain why you believe the United States should offer asylum protections to LGBTQI individuals who cannot obtain protection in their country of origin.]
• Asylum seekers fleeing gang violence
  “Gang warfare and violence have transformed parts of Central America into some of the most dangerous places on earth,” according to the United Nations. Homicide rates in Central American cities are among the highest in the word, and children and young adults face unrelenting cycles of recruitment, extortion, and sexual violence. People make the excruciating decision to flee their homes and loved ones when they cannot find protection from their own government. Yet the proposed rules would categorically exclude these asylum seekers from protections, a shameful abdication of the United States’ most basic obligations to protect asylum seekers from return to harm. [Explain why you believe the United States should offer asylum protections to individuals fleeing gang violence who cannot obtain protection in their country of origin.]
   
• New barriers to obtain asylum
  Across the board, the proposed rules will make it difficult if not impossible for refugees arriving in the United States to actually access the asylum system, at a time when scores of anti-asylum policies have already caused asylum rates in the United States to plummet. The rules impose harsh new standards of proof for threshold asylum interviews and allow immigration adjudicators to summarily reject asylum claims before applicants—many of whom are experiencing trauma and preparing their cases without legal representation—are able to properly present their case. [Explain your concerns about adding new barriers to the already extremely difficult path to asylum in the United States.]

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