For Immediate Release
August 4, 2021
Contacts:
Arianna Rosales, National Immigration Project, arianna@nipnlg.org
[Nationwide] - On August 4, 2021, the Until We Are Free table, led by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), sent an open letter to President Joseph Biden and his administration calling on Biden to honor his commitment to create a fair and humane immigration system by applying the mandates of his Racial Equity executive order to his immigration policy. The open letter specifically calls for the Biden administration to grant immediate humanitarian parole for all Black asylum seekers currently languishing on the Mexican side of the US/Mexican border; to end its reliance on categories of enforcement and instead adopt categories of protection; and, to call for the removal of criminal carve outs from all citizenship bills so that all immigrants have a clearer pathway, as well as other recommendations.
Nana Gyamfi, BAJI's Executive Director: "The Biden administration has been saying that they want to have a fair and humane system and yet keep producing anti Black policies including the recent announcement that they will continue Title 42, an order that disproportionately impacts Black asylum seekers. This administration doesn't know how to develop immigration policy that aligns with racial equity. In this letter, we have laid out a blueprint on how to advance policies that support racial justice and are anti racist. You cannot be fair and humane and also anti-Black."
The Until We're Free table of frontline organizations and advocates is uniting to push back against the Biden administration's racist and punitive immigration policies that criminalize Black immigrants and continue to devastate our communities. The table, convened by BAJI, includes a diverse group of racial justice and immigrant rights organizations and leaders, including Advancement Project | National Office, Alianza Americas, Black Immigrant Collective, Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, Center for Constitutional Rights, Immigrant Justice Corps, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, and VERA Institute.
Please find the full letter here.
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The National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG) is a national non-profit organization that provides technical assistance and support to community-based immigrant organizations, legal practitioners, and all advocates seeking and working to advance the rights of noncitizens. NIPNLG utilizes impact litigation, advocacy, and public education to pursue its mission. Learn more at nipnlg.org. Follow NIPNLG on social media: National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild on Facebook, @NIPNLG on Twitter and Instagram.