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UN agencies have asked the US to continue to allow asylum seekers access to the country and be given due process following US President Donald Trump’s announcement to “permanently pause” migration from all “third world countries”.
When asked about former President Trump’s comments, Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, emphasized during a press briefing in Geneva that individuals are owed protection under international law and must be afforded due process.
UN refugee agency spokesperson Eujin Byun echoed those remarks.
“When people who need protection arrive in their territory, they have to have a due process of asylum. And then they have to have access to territory,” she said, adding that the overwhelming majority of refugees are law-abiding members of the host community.
“We strongly urge nations hosting refugees and asylum seekers to adhere to these principles,” Laurence added.
In a tragic event on November 28 in Washington, DC, National Guard members Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe were shot. Sadly, Beckstrom succumbed to her injuries, while Wolfe continues to receive medical care. Source: EPA / Will Oliver
Trump did not identify any countries in the “permanent ban” by name or explain what he meant by third-world countries or “permanently pause”.
Trump said he would end all federal benefits and subsidies for “noncitizens”, adding he would “denaturalise migrants who undermine domestic tranquillity” and deport any foreign national deemed a public charge, security risk, or “non-compatible with Western civilisation”.
He said the plan would include cases approved under former president Joe Biden’s administration.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely.
