Press Release

Washington, D.C. – The #WelcomeWithDignity Campaign and our 125 member organizations decry President Trump’s executive actions violating the rights and threatening the safety of people seeking refuge in the United States. 

The policies announced today will severely curtail the rights of people seeking refuge in the United States. The Trump administration plans to suspend asylum processing at the border; reinstate the harmful “Remain Mexico” policy; rescind pathways to safety such as the CHNV parole program and CBP One appointment process; and indefinitely halt refugee admissions, among other harmful executive actions.

Policies that close the border to people seeking asylum have caused immeasurable harm and suffering to people fleeing persecution and torture, while exacerbating challenges at the southern border. 

President Trump’s failed Remain in Mexico policy, for example, stranded tens of thousands of asylum seekers in danger, forcing them to wait out their claims in unsafe conditions in Mexico. Human Rights First has documented thousands of publicly reported cases of kidnappings, murder, torture, rape, and other violent attacks against people trapped in Mexico under this and other policies Trump is poised to resurrect. 

These abhorrent policies, along with the suspension of refugee admissions, will leave people stranded in dangerous conditions around the world, at a time of unprecedented conflict and forced displacement. Gutting these life-saving programs is an affront to our country’s values and a violation of our legal and moral responsibilities to people seeking refuge.  

Other measures, such as a proposal to deny birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants, are unconstitutional, and lay bare the cruelty and racism underlying the Trump administration’s policies. 

Seeking asylum is a human right, enshrined in international and U.S. law. Instead of more cruel and harmful policies, we need practical solutions that address challenges at the border and welcome people seeking safety with dignity and compassion.  

“It is vile enough to extinguish one of the few legal pathways available to those seeking protection, CBP One, but it is beyond belief that the United States has sunk so low that this new Administration feels it is altogether right, just, and moral to renege on promises to 30,000 people who did everyone this country asked to seek refuge,” said Thomas Cartwright, leadership Witness at the Border. “You can debate the policy, but there is no debating the callousness and moral turpitude of cancelling existing CBP One appointments.” 

“Welcoming people fleeing persecution and seeking freedom reflects both LSSNCA’s mission and America’s enduring values,” said Kristyn Peck, CEO of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA). “As a nation, we have an obligation to uphold these values, ensuring that every individual has the opportunity to contribute to and thrive within our communities.” 

“Barely a couple of hours into his second term, President Trump is already seeking to implement his harmful, racist, anti-immigrant agenda with these executive actions,” said Amy Fischer, Director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program at Amnesty International USA. “We must put a stop to the years-long trend of playing politics and stoking fear with people’s lives to facilitate the adoption of increasingly draconian border and immigration policies that violate the human rights of people seeking safety, fuel violence against Black, brown, and Indigenous communities across the U.S., and exacerbate the dysfunction of our already beleaguered immigration system.” 

“As anticipated, the Trump administration has already enacted several policies that will abandon vulnerable people in need of protection,” said Kimiko Hirota, Associate Director of Policy at Church World Service. “Each refugee stranded overseas, each asylum seeker forced into imminent danger in northern Mexico, has their own harrowing story of displacement and, in many cases, their own years-long search for a safe place to call home. We remain steadfast in our commitment to welcoming people seeking safety and helping build a fair asylum system. We urge the Trump administration to affirm the United States’ historic role as a haven for refugees and ensure that human rights are upheld at the border and across the United States.”

“From refugees and asylum seekers who will be denied the chance to restart their lives somewhere safe, to entire communities thrown into chaos by potential raids, mass detention, and efforts to end birthright citizenship, the implications of these policies are not abstract. These are direct attacks on every immigrant and their neighbors, friends, colleagues, and loved ones. These are attacks on the very idea of the United States as a nation of immigrants,” said Sharif Aly, President of the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). “The treatment of people seeking safety is a bellwether for the state of democracy and our shared humanity. IRAP is committed to our values and stands ready to once again use our deep expertise and battle-tested legal advocacy strategies to uphold the rights and dignity of people seeking safety and to fight for a more welcoming future for all.”

Directing Attorney of Policy and Advocacy at Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), Margaret Cargioli, said, “The central theme of President Trump’s immigration priorities announced today is to disregard constitutional rights and humanity. The United States Constitution protects the rights of our immigrant families and neighbors, and we are ready to defend the rights of immigrants who will be targeted by the heartless enhanced enforcement operations implemented by the Trump administration. Trump’s plans to reinstate “Remain in Mexico” will cause death, harm, and devastation to LGBTQ+, men, children and Black and Brown asylum seekers as was documented in the previous iteration of the policy. We urge the Mexican government to reject the harmful policy. Ending the right to seek protection from persecution through asylum law and suspending refugee resettlement shows the lack of humanity in Trump’s immigration agenda. After hearing the devastating impact that Trump will impose on immigrants, we urge our representatives to vote “no” on the Laken Riley Act that even leaves immigrant children subject to prolonged detention.”

“The president’s first set of executive actions recycles the unlawful asylum policies of his first term, many of which the courts struck down, and all of which made communities on both sides of the border less safe,” said Melissa Crow, Director of Litigation at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS). “The president has offered no real solutions to the challenges at our southern border. He has instead doubled down on racist fearmongering and tried-and-failed policies of cruelty. We are ready to take this administration to court and use every tool at our disposal to halt these destructive measures. They are designed only to sow fear, punish immigrants and refugees, and destroy all legal pathways to safety for people fleeing persecution and torture. We are clear-eyed about the threats ahead and steadfast in our resolve.”

“The US has a proud history of being a place where refugees, asylum seekers, and other displaced people have sought refuge and rebuilt their lives, and they continue to enrich and strengthen our communities, culturally and economically,” said Nili Sarit Yossinger, Executive Director of Refugee Congress. “Though unsurprising, the policies announced today by the Trump administration run counter to these truths; they are unnecessary, cruel, and a complete anathema to our country’s values. From the reinstatement of the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy to the halting of refugee resettlement, these Executive Orders will set us on a dangerous path that places millions of people who are seeking safety at grave risk. All of us at Refugee Congress stand firm in our resolve to confront and push back against these harmful practices.”

“Among the many Executive Orders that run contrary to American values, moral leadership, and economic interest, we are dismayed to see President Trump cut off critical protection pathways to the United States for people seeking safety, including shutting down asylum and freezing refugee resettlement,” said Kate Brick, Executive Director of the Refugee Advocacy Lab. “In particular, the halt of the U.S. Resettlement Program will not only undermine a program that has enjoyed decades of bipartisan, public support and has provided a lifeline for people fleeing for their lives – including more than 200,000 people currently in the resettlement pipeline we have committed to protect – it will be damaging to communities all across the country who have been enriched by welcoming newcomers.”

“Refugees International will fight for access to safety and opportunity for the refugees, asylum seekers, parolees, and immigrants misportrayed in yesterday’s orders and proclamations as a threat to the United States,” said Yael Schacher, Director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International. “It is crucial to not confuse right from wrong, falsehood from truth: it is the Trump administration’s announced policies—including returning people to harm, separating families, detaining people seeking protection, targeting relatives and humanitarian organizations that support asylum seekers– that will undermine order and security at the border and the well-being and economic strength of communities across the United States.  We stand strong and unafraid in the knowledge that refugees and immigrants help make America great and will put forward true solutions to reforming our asylum and immigration systems that uphold our values and our interests.” 

“As a nation founded on the promise of refuge and opportunity, these harmful executive orders starkly betray our shared values and legal obligations to those seeking safety,” said Sierra Kraft, Executive Director of Immigrant Children Advocates’ Relief Effort (ICARE). “At ICARE, we remain resolute in our commitment to protecting immigrants—ensuring they are treated with dignity and given a fair chance to rebuild their lives. These policies perpetuate harm, strip away hope, and undermine the moral responsibilities we owe to children and families fleeing persecution and violence. This isn’t just about policies—it’s about people, their stories, and their survival.”

Robyn Barnard, senior director for refugee advocacy at Human Rights First said: “President Trump’s orders target immigrants, refugees, and people exercising their legal right to seek safety in our country writ large. The impact of these orders is devastating in their breadth of scope and cruelty. They are not about improving the efficacy or functioning of our immigration system, they are designed to cause dysfunction and harm. While we hope that many will be ruled unlawful by the courts, the very real harm that will be felt in the meantime cannot be ignored. We stand with immigrant communities and those seeking safety in America and denounce these actions for what they are, politically-motivated and xenophobic affronts on our core values.” 

Amy Gottlieb, Migration Director for US Programs at the American Friends Service Committee said, “These executive orders come on the heels of a campaign that targeted and scapegoated immigrants, and continue the cruel attacks that we have sadly come to expect. They stand in direct opposition to our values of welcome, to our hopes that everyone be treated with dignity and respect.  We stand ready to respond, to build, and move toward a world where we know that immigrants make our communities stronger.”

Indigenous Maya Q’anjob’al, Luis Marcos, CEO and Executive Director with Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim said, “The closure of borders to individuals seeking asylum exacerbates the challenges faced by indigenous populations and inflicts preventable harm and suffering upon individuals who are already highly marginalized. CMPI remains steadfast in its commitment to safeguarding the identity and rights of indigenous peoples and immigrant people groups, emphasizing the unique challenges they encounter. In addition, the organization is dedicated to preventing the separation of indigenous and immigrant families, which inflicts psychological trauma on both children and entire families.”

“Trump’s actions yesterday are not surprising, but that doesn’t mean that we are resigned, “said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. “The Torah repeatedly commands us to ‘welcome the ger,’ translated as ‘stranger’ or ‘immigrant,’ emphasizing the importance of empathy and justice for those seeking refuge. American rabbis and cantors will remain in solidarity with immigrants, to demand policies that reflect the dignity and rights of all individuals.”