RILA's Unchanging Mission

Anne Jang, RILA Supervising Attorney

Every year on June 20th, RILA joins with the global community in marking World Refugee Day, an international day designated by the United Nations to honor the strength and courage of people (like our clients) who have been forced to flee from their home countries due to severe conflict and persecution.

This year as we prepare to celebrate World Refugee Day, we are soberly reminded by daily news headlines of the ongoing crises across the globe that have displaced millions – the war in Ukraine, the horrific tragedies of Gaza, gang violence in Haiti and the Northern Triangle countries, the rise of authoritarian regimes in Central and South America, the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan and Iran, and the persecution of ethnic, religious, sexual, and political minorities in too many corners of the world. At the same time, the United States continues to face significant challenges at its southern border as the immigration system struggles to manage the huge influx of people seeking to enter the country.

However, the Biden administration’s new executive order restricting migrants’ access to asylum seriously endangers the safety and lives of many individuals and families who arrive at the border fleeing from persecution and seeking refuge under long-established federal and international law. The order does both too much and too little – it threatens to profoundly reshape asylum law and policy such that people who should receive protection would be blocked from even pursuing it, while failing to address the myriad of problems plaguing the American immigration system and hindering the fair and efficient adjudication of claims. In fact, under the executive order, many of our clients – genuine asylum seekers whose journeys of hardship and hope we often share with you in this newsletter – would have been turned away and returned to situations of severe harm and even death.

The problems with the U.S. immigration system demand more than one executive order or one president or one party can accomplish. Yet we are dismayed that the increasing politicization of immigration reform has drawn focus away from devising and implementing real solutions and overshadowed the burdens borne by the migrants, communities, aid groups, and government employees grappling with the day-to-day realities of life at the border.

While our nation awaits better measures from our lawmakers and leaders, RILA’s mission remains unchanged. We are still committed to supporting the most vulnerable immigrants in our community, those who left their home countries in search of refuge and freedom from persecution. Our clients came to the U.S. out of desperation, not opportunity; they are seeking to pursue critical protection for which they are eligible under the law, not somehow “game” the system. Many clients dearly miss their home countries and the loved ones they left behind, and are heartbroken to realize they might never return; many endured years of violence and persecution, holding out hope that things might improve, only to finally realize that their only option for survival was to flee. And at a time when legal representation is nearly impossible to secure, RILA provides crucial, life-changing advocacy for our clients as they navigate an increasingly complex bureaucracy and legal landscape to have their claims heard.

The biblical call to welcome the oppressed with care and compassion persists at the heart of RILA’s work. Please join us in ensuring that asylum seekers in our community receive quality legal representation in their pursuit of security and justice.