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Press Releases and Statements

    Immigration Equality Receives Transformative Award from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving

    New York, NY (March 19, 2024) — Today, MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving Open Call announced Immigration Equality as one of 361 grantees. Immigration Equality was selected from a pool of over 6,000 organizations with budgets under $5 million working with people experiencing the greatest need in the United States. They are one of 23 LGBTQ organizations and 67 immigration organizations to receive this award.

    Gutting Asylum System Deadly to Queer and Trans Immigrants, Say Leading LGBTQ Groups

    New York, NY (December 14, 2023) — Today, a coalition of the nation’s leading LGBTQ organizations, including Immigration Equality, Human Rights Campaign, The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, GLAAD, Lambda Legal, National Center for Transgender Equality, Transgender Law Center, and Outright International sent a letter to President Biden and Congress cautioning them against trading protections for LGBTQ immigrants in exchange for a one-time spending bill.

    DACA Ruling Puts LGBTQ Dreamers in Danger

    New York, NY (September 14, 2023) — Yesterday, federal District Court Judge Andrew Hanen of the Southern District of Texas ruled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to be unlawful. Immigration Equality staunchly condemns this decision and calls for Congress to take urgent action to provide a more permanent solution for Dreamers.

    Immigration Equality Lauds Federal Judge’s Decision to Block Biden’s Illegal Asylum Ban

    New York, NY (July 28, 2023) — On Tuesday, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California blocked the Biden administration’s asylum ban, concluding the policy contravenes a person’s statutory right to request asylum in the U.S. regardless of where they cross the border. He delayed the decision for two weeks to give the federal government time to appeal.

    LGBTQ Immigrant Rights Group Decries Texas Governor’s Use of Death Traps That Maim and Kill Migrants Crossing the Rio Grande

    New York, NY (July 19, 2023) — Reports out of Texas reveal the extreme measures Governor Abbott has implemented to stop migrants from crossing the Rio Grande and entering the U.S. In an email obtained by the Houston Chronicle, a medic-trooper described tactics he saw used against migrants, including: deploying barrels wrapped in razor wire into the murky water; lining the river with razor wire; and pushing families with small children and nursing mothers back into the river in 100-degree heat.

    Immigration Equality Works With Congressional Offices to Demand Biden Protect Asylum Access for LGBTQ Refugees 

    New York, NY (June 30th, 2023) — Immigration Equality worked with Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Joaquin Castro, Nanette Barragán and Mark Pocan who authored a letter to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas highlighting the plight of LGBTQ migrants who are forced to navigate persecution and violence to have a chance at seeking safety within the United States. The letter outlines specific demands including rolling back the Biden Administration’s dangerous Asylum Ban. 

    Immigration Equality Condemns Biden’s New Asylum Ban

    New York, NY (May 10, 2023) — Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a new asylum ban that will deny many LGBTQ refugees, and others, access to safety in the United States. This new rule comes as the administration prepares to lift the Title 42 policy on May 11, which was used to summarily expel asylum seekers to Mexico or to their country of persecution without the opportunity to apply for asylum in the United States.

    Immigration Equality Denounces Biden’s Proposed Ban on Asylum

    New York, NY (February 22, 2023) — Yesterday, the Biden administration announced a new federal rule that would bar asylum for people at the southern border who travel through a third country before arriving in the United States. As written, the rule would require that they apply for and be denied asylum in that third country before applying in the U.S. The rule is scheduled to go into effect the day that Title 42 expulsions end.

    Immigration Equality Deeply Concerned with Biden’s Broken Promises to Immigrants

    New York, NY (February 10th, 2023) — During his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, President Biden spoke at length about the economy and infrastructure investments, touting his achievements and leadership. However, he gave immigration short shrift and pandered to extremists in the audience, focusing on border security rather than spotlighting the crucial role immigrants play in America and the need for humane, respectful, and equitable immigration policies.

    Immigration Equality Condemns Biden’s Proposed Barriers to Asylum

    New York, NY (January 5th, 2023)— “Today, President Biden expressed his intentions to stop using the Title 42 expulsion policy to prevent people from entering the United States,” said Aaron C. Morris, Executive Director of Immigration Equality. “Astonishingly, at the same time, his administration expanded the policy to apply to additional nations.”

    RELEASE: Immigration Equality Expands Efforts to Resettle LGBTQ Refugees

    NEW YORK, NY (December 14, 2022) — Today, Immigration Equality announced an expansion of its commitment to resettle LGBTQ refugees to safe countries. The move followed a multi-year pledge from Erik and Ranesh Ramanathan to support efforts to help LBGTQ refugees flee persecution and find safety in the United States, Canada, and other countries.

    Title 42 Ruled Illegal by Federal Court

    New York, NY (November 18, 2022)—This week, a federal district court struck down the the US government’s Title 42 exclusion policy, ruling it unlawful and without public health justification. Title 42 has been used since March 2020 to rapidly expel asylum seekers at the southern border to grave danger, including LGBTQ refugees, under the pretext of public health.

    Immigration Equality Denounces Fifth Circuit Court Ruling Against DACA

    New York, NY (October 7th, 2022)— On Wednesday, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy finding it unlawful and sending it back to the lower court to decide the legality of the Biden Administration’s new DACA regulation, which is set to go into effect later this month.

    RELEASE: 100+ LGBTQ Asylees Call on Senators to Reject Anti-Asylum Amendments to Inflation Reduction Act of 2022  

    New York, NY (August 4, 2022)—More than 100 LGBTQ and HIV-positive asylees sent a letter to U.S. senators today urging them to reject any amendments to the Inflation Reduction Act that extend the use of Title 42 to expel and block asylum seekers. Citing their own experiences fleeing persecution, they call on Congress to uphold its legal and moral obligation to protect other individuals who cannot return to their countries of origin for fear of violence and death.

    Immigration Equality Welcomes Supreme Court Ruling Allowing Biden Administration to End Remain in Mexico

    New York, NY (July 1, 2022) — Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Biden v. Texas that the Biden administration has the authority to end the Migrant Protection Protocols, more familiarly known as “Remain in Mexico.” Since 2019, the policy has required asylum seekers, including LGBTQ people fleeing persecution, to wait in Mexico until their hearing date, subjecting them to life-threatening conditions for months or years.  

    Ending Expulsions Under Title 42 Is an Absolute Necessity

    New York, NY (April 7, 2022) – “Republican Senators who are holding up urgent lifesaving programs that actually fight COVID in a misguided ploy to force the Biden administration to reinstitute Title 42 are playing a dangerous game.”—Aaron C. Morris, Immigration Equality’s Executive Director

    Immigration Equality Denounces Trump Administration’s Proposal to End Asylum

    Statement from Bridget Crawford, Immigration Equality’s Legal Director: “We have never faced a threat to asylum like the one before us right now. The proposed rules are so draconian that almost no one would be deemed eligible for asylum—no matter how strong their claim, or how compelling their story…

For earlier press releases, contact communications@immigrationequality.org.

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