WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte released the following statement today after the Biden administration announced their plans for the implementation of the asylum transit ban:

“As we have said before, this proposed transit ban to disqualify large numbers of people from even applying for asylum is a terrible mistake.

“Eliminating the basic right to apply for asylum on U.S. soil – something President Biden rightly attacked President Trump for trying to eliminate – will hurt countless vulnerable families and individuals, and moves us further away from building the humane and working immigration system Americans want.

“The Biden administration has taken recent critical steps to build legal pathways that actually work and reduce pressure at the border. The Administration should continue building on those successes by providing individuals and families options for a legal and orderly channel, which we know they will consistently use over crossing without authorization. Not only is today’s announcement a terrible mistake, but so is the false assumption that expanded legal migration pathways should be paired with additional hardline deterrence-first policies.

“The challenges in the weeks ahead around the end of Title 42 were largely predictable; this ban to preemptively disqualify countless people will likely last decades as part of that response, and violates American values and our nation’s commitments to those in need.”