Bilal Askaryar, communications coordinator with the Welcome with Dignity Campaign, who is based at the Women’s Refugee Commission, is quoted on the need for a revised asylum policy in The Progressive magazine.

Democrats who are wavering in their support for rescinding Title 42 should realize that nonprofit agencies and religious groups stand ready to help asylum seekers.

Task forces of nonprofits providing services for asylum seekers have formed in the four states that border Mexico—Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California—says Bilal Askaryar, communications coordinator with the Welcome With Dignity Campaign. He urges the public to look at asylum seekers with a wider lens.

“Whether you’re a person fleeing the war in Ukraine or fleeing institutional violence in Central America, you are fleeing the same thing,” he says. “You are running for your life.”