The following is a statement from Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, regarding the Trump administration’s attempts to gut our country’s asylum process:

Our laws provide every person who arrives in the United States the opportunity to apply for asylum. Despite what President Trump claims, this is neither about national security nor resources. Just as with the Muslim Ban, this is about an ongoing attack on immigrants and communities of color. The asylum ban cruelly and illegally closes our nation’s doors to those in need for no factual reason.

Our country has national and international legal obligations to provide refuge to those most in need. No President – not even Trump – can ignore legal asylum obligations on a whim or by executive fiat.

We will continue to fight these ongoing attacks on immigrants and vulnerable communities by every means possible and to safeguard the rule of law and our values from an overreaching and overzealous White House.