Led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance, senior leadership of prominent national human, civil and immigrant rights leaders from 11 organizations will travel to the US-Mexico border on May 11 and 12 to bear witness to the end of Title 42 and the anticipated start of new, restrictive border policies which will fuel wrongful deportation of refugees to great risk of persecution and torture. The delegation will be led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance with coordination with partners in Matamoros and Reynosa and will meet with other groups providing life-saving humanitarian aid to stranded migrants and people seeking asylum.
The organizations will hold a press conference to present their findings from the visit on May 12 at a time and place that will be announced soon.
The delegation will document the conditions at the shelters and encampments in Reynosa and Matamoros for families and individuals who have been waiting for the opportunity to exercise their right to seek asylum at the U.S. southern border. Delegates will focus on the continued impacts of Title 42, a policy used to expel over 2 million migrants without due process or, for those who fear return, access to asylum assessments. As Title 42 ends at midnight on the 11th, delegates will also monitor the expanded use of the CBP One application, and the anticipated implementation of the proposed “Asylum Ban”, which human rights advocates have warned would return many refugees who are eligible for asylum under U.S. and international law to danger.
Representatives of different human and civil rights movements will participate in the delegation to demonstrate an intersectional approach to tackling racist and harmful border policies. In recent years, in addition to the misuse of Title 42, the US government has committed a range of human rights violations against people seeking asylum at the border with Mexico, including illegal pushbacks, race-based torture and ill-treatment in immigration detention, and devastating policies such as family separation and detention.
Spokespeople from participating organizations are available for interviews.
Confirmed delegates include:
Guerline Jozef, Haitian Bridge Alliance
Eleanor Acer, Human Rights First
Paul O’Brien, Amnesty International USA
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International
Mary Meg McCarthy, National Immigrant Justice Center
Kica Matos, National Immigration Law Center
Vince Warren, Center for Constitutional Rights
Deirdre Schifeling and Maribel Hernandez Rivera, American Civil Liberties Union
Bilal Askaryar, Welcome with Dignity
Patrice Lawrence, UndocuBlack Network
Maricarmen Garcia, Tahirih Justice Center
Seydi Sarr, ABISA
Contacts:
Haitian Bridge Alliance, Paige Censale, [email protected]
Amnesty International, Duncan Tucker, [email protected]
#WelcomeWithDignity, Bilal Askaryar, [email protected]
National Immigration Law Center, Emily Morris, [email protected]
National Immigrant Justice Center, Tara Tidwell Cullen, [email protected]
Human Rights First, Shamari White, [email protected]