WASHINGTON – In response to today's Supreme Court decisions in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado and Noem v. Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association, Estuardo Cifuentes, Program Manager of Project Corazon at Lawyers for Good Government and an asylee, issued the following statement:
“Today's Supreme Court decisions further narrow the humanitarian protections available to people fleeing persecution, violence, and humanitarian crises. Together, they make it harder for people to seek asylum at our borders and easier to strip legal protections from families who have built their lives in the United States under Temporary Protected Status.
“As someone who was forced to wait 19 months outside the United States because of policies like the one upheld in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, I know the human cost of delaying access to protection. Every person who lawfully presents themselves at a port of entry deserves a real opportunity to seek asylum—not months of uncertainty, danger, and fear while waiting for that chance.
“At Project Corazon, we work directly with immigrants navigating exactly these kinds of policies. The people turned back under ‘metering’ weren’t abstractions—they were asylum seekers who presented themselves lawfully at a port of entry and were sent back to wait, sometimes for months, in dangerous conditions in Mexico. Some were grievously harmed during their wait. Others never made it back.
“The Court's decision allowing the administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Syrians is equally troubling. Whether someone is seeking asylum at our border or has lived and worked lawfully in the United States for years under TPS, today's rulings move us further away from the humanitarian principles that have long defined our immigration system.
“These decisions do not change the realities that force people to flee their homes or the obligations we have as a nation to protect those seeking safety. We remain committed to fighting for an immigration system that honors due process, recognizes human dignity, and lives up to the promises Congress made through our asylum and humanitarian protection laws.”