The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights cautioned on Wednesday that a new US border enforcement strategy risked compromising the fundamental tenets of international human rights and refugee law.
Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted, “the right to seek asylum is a human right, no matter a person’s origin, immigration status, nor how they arrived at an international border.”
- Advertisement -
Last week, US Vice President Joe Biden proposed a fresh plan to broaden a contentious law known as Title 42, allowing border agents to promptly send away more immigrants who arrive without authorization.
Each month, the plan allows for the quick deportation of 30,000 Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans, and Nicaraguans to Mexico.
“These measures appear to be at variance with the prohibition of collective expulsion and the principle of non-refoulment,” Turk added.
A person should never be sent back to a place where they would be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhumane, or humiliating treatment or punishment, according to the international principle of non-refoulment.
The UN rights office noted that even prior to the expansion, “Title 42 has already been used by US immigration officials some 2.5 million times at the southern border to expel people to Mexico or their home country without an individualized assessment of all their protection needs accompanied by due process and procedural safeguards.”
According to the White House, it is hoped that the more stringent regulations will prevent record numbers of migrants and asylum seekers from entering following long, sometimes perilous treks orchestrated by people traffickers.
Up to 30,000 qualified migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela would be permitted entry into the United States each month, Biden stated in an effort to appease opponents on the left.
They need to fill out applications in their home nations, find a US sponsor and submit background checks.
According to the UN rights head, “measures to create and expand safe and regular pathways” are acceptable.
However, “such initiatives should not come at the expense of fundamental human rights, including the right to seek asylum and the right to an individual assessment of protection needs,” he continued.
Turk also expressed worry that people who needed refuge the most and those in precarious circumstances were unlikely to achieve the stringent criteria for humanitarian parole, which included having a financial sponsor in the US.
He underlined his plea for international borders to respect and safeguard the rights of migrants and refugees.
“We hear a great deal of talk about migration crises, but in reality, it is those migrating who often are the ones truly in crisis,” Turk noted.
“Rather than vilifying them and stripping them of long-recognized rights, we should be seeking to govern migration humanely and safely with full respect for the human rights of every individual.”
