WASHINGTON, D.C. – FWD.us Director of Immigration Capacity Building, Coalitions, Policy, and Research Team, Susie Haslett, issued the following statement on the launch of the #WelcomeWithDignity campaign aimed to transform how the United States welcomes people seeking asylum. #WelcomeWithDignity is the first ever national campaign on asylum.

Today, more than 50 national and regional immigrant and refugee rights organizations, community organizers from the border, faith communities, and other advocates launched a landmark national campaign to transform the United State’s asylum system to ensure a humane system for people seeking asylum, and building a fair, effective, and timely asylum system.

“The launch of such a coalition and the important progress we’ve seen over the past few months– such as ending MPP, increasing overall refugee admissions, or reuniting families separated at the border–would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of local border groups, countless lawyers, advocates, and service providers who lead the effort to fight for migrant communities in the interior of the United States and our Southern border. We’re proud to be just one of the many groups behind this effort that embodies welcoming immigrants with dignity.

While these stories mark turning the page on Trump’s cruel immigration policies, there is still so much more work to be done to reunite additional families from the thousands impacted, by immediately restarting asylum processing at ports of entry, to address root causes of forced migration, and ultimately to create a functional, safe, and humane immigration system. Cruelty as a deterrent immigration policies are dehumanizing and traumatizing, and they have been proven to be wildly ineffective. The reality is that irregular forced migration will continue until we create a safe, orderly and humane system going forward so that migrants can come with a visa or pursue their asylum claims with a functioning, 21st-century system. Any action from Congress on immigration must also address the legacy of an immigration system that has not been modernized in decades and has trapped millions of people in an undocumented status. Passing a pathway to citizenship is critical to the response and recovery from COVID-19, and to ensuring we have a functioning immigration system.”

Join the movement and sign our pledge to #WelcomeWithDignity here.