Oxfam Reaction to Increasing Humanitarian Exceptions for Asylum at the Border

BOSTON, Massachusetts, May 19 -- Oxfam America issued the following news release:

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In response to the Biden administration increasing humanitarian exceptions to its asylum restrictions at the border, Oxfam America's Global Policy Lead Noah Gottschalk, said:

"We are relieved that the Biden administration is taking a step in the right direction by providing more families with a bridge to refuge in the United States, and urge them to swiftly end all restrictions on asylum. By increasing the number people allowed to seek asylum at the southern border to 250 people per day, and by stopping the troubling practice of flying asylum seekers across the border only to be expelled elsewhere, the Biden administration is undoubtedly saving lives. But it is still moving too slowly in upholding its legal obligations to vulnerable families escaping violence and persecution.

"While it has worked to repudiate so much of the Trump administration's cruel policies, the Biden administration has kept the xenophobic and anti-immigrant Title 42 policy in place for four months and counting. Opening these exceptions is just the start of what the government must do to reclaim our country's global standing and help ensure that everyone seeking asylum in the U.S. can do so safely and securely.

"Oxfam sued the Trump administration with our partners over its Title 42 Policy because it is illegal, immoral, and based on widely-debunked public health justifications. That has not changed, and we continue to call on the Biden administration to urgently end Title 42 in its totality so that the US can live up to its promise as a welcoming nation for everyone."