WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, more than 50 national and regional immigrant and refugee rights organizations, community organizers from the border, faith communities and other advocates launched a landmark national campaign to transform how the United States welcomes people seeking asylum.

The Welcome With Dignity landmark campaign represents a confluence of deep organizing among those already helping people seeking asylum along the southern border and policy experts who understand the systems at play. The campaign calls for the protection of people seeking safety in the United States, implementation of a humane reception system for people seeking asylum, and building a fair, effective and timely asylum system.

Marking the launch, the campaign’s communication coordinator Bilal Askaryar said, “There is no human right more fundamental than being safe or seeking protection. After decades of insufficient policies and four years of acute attacks on our asylum system, now is the time for a national movement to re-envision a system of protection and welcome that centers the human dignity of all people seeking asylum in the United States.”

“The Women’s Refugee Commission is thrilled to see this campaign come together with such a depth and breadth of organizational involvement, including from across the southern U.S. border region,” said Katharina Obser, acting director of the Migrant Rights and Justice Program at the Women’s Refugee Commission. “Working to advance the rights and protection of families seeking asylum at the U.S. border is something that we have prioritized for decades. It is not enough to simply reverse the devastating asylum policies of the last four years. Now is the time to reimagine a transformative asylum system that welcomes with dignity and never relies on detention. The Welcome With Dignity campaign is committed to ensuring that the White House and Congress do just that.”

The campaign today also issued a set of priorities targeted at both Congressional and White House action. Priorities include ending the illegal and dangerous Remain in Mexico policy and misuse of Title 42; launching a holistic and humane reception system to support asylum seekers throughout the process; revamping the U.S. immigration system to process asylum applications in a fair, effective and timely manner with fully funded legal counsel for people seeking asylum, as well as an independent immigration court system free from partisan influence.

The campaign also calls for the United States to strengthen its leadership in the arena of international protection of forcibly displaced people by using its diplomacy and aid to address the reasons people are forced to flee their countries and by developing new protections that respond to emerging challenges such as displacement caused by climate change.

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