SAN DIEGO — Two organizations tapped by the Biden administration to recommend which migrants should be allowed into the United States to seek humanitarian protection said Friday that they are halting their work with the government and demanding an end to the Trump-era ban on asylum imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.
The withdrawal of the International Rescue Committee and HIAS from a consortium of groups assisting the Biden administration is a blow to the government’s effort to join advocates in helping those deemed particularly vulnerable as they wait in Mexican border cities, including women with children and LGBTQ people.
Both groups had been part of a consortium chosen by the Biden administration to refer a limited number of asylum-seekers waiting along the Mexican border to U.S. authorities so they could be exempted from a public health order that former President Donald Trump put in place in March 2020.
Under the order, nearly all single adults and many families at the border are quickly expelled from the United States without a chance to seek asylum. Despite pressure from advocacy groups that say the emergency measure is not justified on public health grounds, the Biden administration has deferred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and kept it in place except for children who are traveling alone.