These measures follow a May 2023 regulation that also violated rights by generally blocking people from applying for asylum in the United States if they crossed between US ports of entry or did not seek asylum in a country of transit. These measures went into effect despite US law explicitly stating that the right to seek asylum applies to any person “physically present in the United States … whether or not at a designated port of arrival … irrespective of such alien’s status.”
The idea that the right to seek asylum should be suspended because too many people are seeking asylum or because some asylum seekers might be unable to wait in line, flouts centuries-old principles of refugee protection and the reality of conflict and persecution.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared the right of any person “to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” This human right is not limited to those who ring the doorbell.
Particularly in the fevered political rhetoric of an election year, when anti-foreigner prejudices are whipped into a frenzy and politicians jockey for position in their toughness towards immigration, it is important not to lose sight of the principles that have traditionally made the United States a refuge for the persecuted.
Source: HRW