Portland Immigrant Welcome Center criticizes Biden’s new border plan
“I think Biden’s policy is unacceptable,” Faisal Khan, IWC Executive Director, said. “It’s inhumane, and it’s also a violation of human rights.” The Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) has criticized President Joe Biden's new executive order, which restricts migrants seeking asylum at the southern border. The Executive Director of the IWC, Faisal Khan, called the policy unacceptable and inhumane. Khan also criticized the Biden administration for specifically targeting the Southern border. Khan argued that the policy would send people back to the violence they were trying to escape and contradicts our values and obligations under international human rights standards. The IWC has urged the public of Maine to reject the policy.
Publicerad : 11 månader sedan förbi WMTW i Politics
PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) - After President Joe Biden introduced an executive order that places restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the southern border, the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center is speaking out against the new policy.
“I think Biden’s policy is unacceptable,” Faisal Khan, IWC Executive Director, said. “It’s inhumane, and it’s also a violation of human rights.”
Khan says the new policy is dangerous because it would send people back to the violence they are trying to escape.
“Forcing asylum seekers to remain in precarious situations, often in dangerous environments, contradicts our values and obligations under international human rights standards,” he said at a news conference on Monday afternoon.
He also criticized the Biden administration for specifically targeting the Southern border.
“The Ukrainian migrant community has been treated with a lot of compassion and kindness, but rightly so, they also have been experiencing conflict and war in Ukraine,” he said. “But why cannot we extend that same courtesy to people coming from South and Central America, from Africa, where obviously predominantly are black and brown people?”
Sarah Fitzgerald, who immigrated to Maine from Peru, touched on the hardships people endured in reaching the United States and her disappointment in the president’s actions.
“They cross countries by foot, they go through jungles,” Fitzgerald said. “Now we have this laws that make it so you cannot be safe.”
Members of the IWC called on the people of Maine to reach out to their elected officials and urge them to reject the new policy.
“As individuals, we all here have a job to do,” Belinda Vemba, an advocacy coordinator at the IWC, said. “It’s up to you and me to make the change.”