The Progressive Magazine interviews immigration advocates.
Immigration advocates offer their opinions for The Progressive Magazine. Immigration advocates offer their opinions for The Progressive Magazine.
The Progressive Magazine interviews immigration advocates.
Each issue, The Progressive poses one question to a panel of expert voices—writers, thinkers, politicians, artists, and others who help shape the national conversation. For our April/May 2024 issue, we asked: What would a humane border policy look like?. . . Kate Jastram. . Director of policy and advocacy at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies. . Climate justice doesn’t begin or end at the border. But as the climate crisis devastates communities and fuels human rights violations around the globe, more people will be forced to flee their homes. Some will need to seek refuge in another country; a small percentage of them will ask for protection at our nation’s doorstep. While not all of them will fit the refugee definition, asylum and other forms of humanitarian protection under U.S. and international law will apply in some cases.. . We must restore a fair, humane, and orderly asylum process at our border. That means putting an end to punitive policies that detain asylum seekers and separate families. Instead, the U.S. government should ensure swift and dignified processing at the border, as well as adequate resources for organizations that welcome people seeking asylum into our communities and support them as they navigate their legal cases.. . . Alisa Roadcup Bhachu. . Executive director of the Chicago Refugee Coalition. . Many factors are at play when considering how to develop humane policies at the border. International economic policies, including trade agreements, are needed; they need to be consistent with human rights standards, trade justice, and sustainable approaches to the environment. We should invest in the infrastructure of the countries people are fleeing, because choosing to depart one’s home country—with all the comforts, identity, and symbolism home represents—is almost always a choice people make as a very last resort.. . We need to ensure that immigrants and asylum seekers have access to services and referral networks because community is what sustains us all. We need to understand that our inherent value as human beings is not contingent on our immigration status or the arbitrariness of our birth.. . . Lawrence Benito. . Executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. . It must be pointed out that current U.S. border policy is indeed inhumane. The recent anti-immigrant proposals from Congress, negotiated with President Joe Biden’s blessing, only increase enforcement, encourage smuggling and all of the abuse and exploitation that it entails, and make it even harder for people entering the United States to seek their internationally recognized right to asylum. These proposals go against the values of many in this country who have taken action to welcome immigrants.. . A humane border policy is one part of a broader, just immigration system that recognizes the humanity of those who wish to enter the country and provides a safe and fair opportunity to make their case. Such a system must also ensure that people have access to what they need upon entry, including a safe place to stay where they can be among family or community and have access to employment. Ultimately, the solution must include a pathway to legalization that all immigrants deserve.
