BNHR PRESS Statement on the deployment of additional troops to the Southern Border

 PRESS STATEMENT

Statement on the deployment of additional troops to the Southern Border can be attributed to Fernando Garcia, Executive Director at Border Network for Human Rights.

“Border Network for Human Rights condemns the decision to send additional troops to our Southern Border under the false pretense of border security and questions the motives behind it. What we need is not troops but asylum officers that can review the cases in an expedited manner and start processing the people whose rights are being defended by the Ninth Circuit. The Remain in Mexico policy is illegal and it is hurting an already vulnerable population fleeing from violence and persecution.

This decision continues to promote the false narrative that immigrants represent a threat to national security or safety. The migrants attempting to enter legally through our borders, deserve a dignified treatment and help and instead are being treated with violence and a cruel degradation of their human and constitutional rights. This administration chose to send these migrants back to the very violence they were fleeing from instead of allowing them to be processed in an orderly and dignified manner.

It is very clear that this decision is political and it’s very unfortunate that the Trump administration is using border security and national security arguments as part of a political game in an election year. We urge this administration and CBP officials to stop degrading the dignity and rights of asylum seekers and to uphold the Constitution.

Asylum seekers have a better chance of winning their cases if they have access to legal resources and the support of family members, they also have a better chance of remaining safe if they wait for their cases in the United States.  We will be closely observing the deployment of these additional troops to our border since we know that soldiers are not trained to deal with civilian population or to enforce asylum, immigration or border security laws.

As part of a proactive effort to identify possible civil and human rights violations, Border Network for Human Rights will launch an abuse documentation campaign within the next few weeks. In order to ensure the safety of asylum seekers, it is imperative that MPP is terminated.”

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The Border Network for Human Rights, founded in 1998, is one of the leading human rights advocacy and immigration reform organizations in the U.S. BNHR has over 7,000 members in West Texas and Southern New Mexico.