AJC Policy: Immigration
Introduction & Background
Immigrants to the U.S. offer economic, social, and cultural contributions to our society. Our nation’s strength and resilience derive from its diversity, inclusiveness, and openness. Bipartisan, common-sense solutions must be found to meet the economic and national security needs of the U.S., while upholding our international obligations and shared American values of justice, equal opportunity, and respect for the human rights and dignity of all people.
As a consequence of economic instability and political repression in several Latin America and Caribbean countries, greater numbers of migrants from countries beyond Mexico and Northern Central America attempt to reach the Southwest U.S. border.
The May 2023 end of Title 42, an emergency covid-related immigration authority which allowed many migrants to be quickly turned away at the U.S. border since 2020, has prompted a response to the expected surge in migrant arrivals. The end of Title 42 is a reminder that immigration reform and an increased investment to address migration root causes are needed for fair, humane, and orderly conditions at the southern border.
The Need for a Transnational Approach
Solutions to address immigration to the U.S. must include and involve the broader region, with a goal to stabilize the Western Hemisphere. The region must become more secure and more democratic to address the root causes of migration so that families can safely remain in their homelands. The U.S. should expand and create new legal pathways for immigration for people at particular risk of violence in countries facing particularly acute challenges. The U.S. should be actively engaged with the OAS to achieve common objectives, promote democratic values and good governance.
In June 2022, leaders from across the Western Hemisphere – led by President Biden – adopted the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection at the Summit of the Americas. The Declaration is organized around four key pillars: (1) stability and assistance for communities; (2) expansion of legal pathways; (3) humane migration management; and (4) coordinated emergency response. This approach could help mobilize the entire region to transform how migration is managed in the Americas. Congress should evaluate aid to the region with an eye towards creating meaningful reforms, particularly in areas that drive irregular migration such as corruption and lack of opportunity.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Ongoing national disagreement over immigration undermines our country and weakens its commitment to democratic and humanitarian values. Immigration reform must both secure the nation’s borders and also ensure that migrants are treated with respect and dignity and that asylum-seekers are not returned by the U.S. into dangerous situations.
In addition to recognizing the political and economic factors that drive migration, comprehensive immigration reform must address:
- Undocumented immigrants: There must be a humane alternative to the limbo in which 11 million undocumented immigrants find themselves today. To address future flows and current backlogs in our immigration system there should be viable and efficient pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. The roughly 800,000 Dreamers (undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children) need a permanent solution that yields stability and security.
- Temporary Protected Status (TPS): TPS offers temporary protection from deportation for immigrants in the U.S. who come from designated nations deemed unsafe to return to because of war, natural disasters, or other crises. Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen currently have active TPS designations. The 2022 adoption of TPS for Venezuelans who escaped their socialist, authoritarian regime was critically important and should be applied to other nations in the region.
- Asylum seekers and refugees: Many people seek to migrate to the U.S. not simply for a “better life” but because they are fleeing persecution. The U.S. must maintain policies that meet its international obligations to provide asylum-seekers with access to fair and efficient procedures and to ensure it does not expel or return people to situations where they face a real risk of harm. Eligibility to seek asylum in the U.S. should include people fleeing gender-based violence and criminal gangs in certain circumstances.
- The restrictive new “asylum ineligibility” rules that the U.S. has implemented in connection with the end of Title 42 could result in many individuals who arrive at the Southern U.S. border with valid asylum claims not be able to have them individually considered, potentially compelling them to remain in dangerous conditions in Mexico or return to other countries in which they similarly face extreme danger. The U.S. should instead adopt humane and non-discriminatory border policies that respect the principle of non-refoulement and grant access to asylum procedures regardless of asylum-seekers’ manner of entry or transit, in line with international legal obligations. The U.S. urgently should take steps to address reports that the electronic system it has established to facilitate the submission of asylum claims (the CPB One app) discriminates against and is functionally inaccessible to some categories of particularly vulnerable asylum-seekers.
- The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has not only played a key role in saving the lives of millions of people, but it has also made the United States, founded and built by refugees and immigrants, stronger and richer. Since 2018, the U.S. has admitted relatively low levels of refugees; despite President Biden’s decision to return the refugee admissions ceiling to 125,000 in FY 2022, the U.S. only resettled 25,400 refugees during the year, fewer than 5,000 of whom were from Latin America and the Caribbean. The capacity of refugee processing programs should be increased urgently so that the U.S. can meet its refugee admissions target of 125,000 for FY23 (15,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean) in practice.
- The U.S. must act to help our immigration court system function more efficiently and effectively while respecting the due process rights of asylum-seekers. Past proposals to increase the courts’ efficiency by undermining due process protections—like placing high case quotas on immigration judges—risk creating a system that denies protection to many with legitimate claims. There must be a significant increase in the number of immigration judges and asylum officers available to effectively process claims, including in locations throughout the Western Hemisphere. Congress must make this investment.
- Refugee detention: Detention—especially of vulnerable populations such as families and asylum seekers—should occur only where a serious threat is determined to exist, not as a default procedure.
- Border facilities, which were not designed to house children, are grossly overcrowded and cannot provide acceptable accommodations. At the bare minimum, children confined in emergency shelters at the border must receive edible food, clean drinking water, housing in hygienic facilities with sanitary bathrooms, soap, and toothpaste; and have the opportunity to sleep. Detention facilities should be regularly inspected, and inhabitants must be treated in a humane manner that reflects American values and our international obligations.
- All migrants should be treated with respect and dignity. Greater communication and planning between federal, state and local governments, and civil society is needed to ensure that arriving migrants in need of additional support can be matched with destinations with capacity to provide access to necessary services, including social and legal service providers. The U.S. should prioritize reunification of migrants with their family members.
This policy paper is meant to be a resource for candidates and elected officials. It is one of several that outlines American Jewish Committee (AJC) standpoints and policies on issues of core concern to our organization and our community. Download the PDF
AJC, founded in 1906, is the Jewish community’s global advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the security and well-being of the Jewish people and Israel, and to advance human rights and democratic values around the world. In addition to its New York headquarters and its Office of Policy and Diplomatic Affairs in Washington, D.C., AJC has 25 U.S. regional offices, 14 overseas posts, and 38 partnerships with Jewish communities and institutions worldwide.
For more information, please be in touch with Julie Rayman, AJC Deputy Director of Policy and Diplomatic Affairs, at raymanj@ajc.org or 202-776-5430.