CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a leading local immigration advocacy group, has suggested that President Joe Biden's plan to temporarily suspend entry to asylum seekers at the border won't solve the problem and will likely lead to danger for the migrants.
Fred Tsao, the senior policy counsel for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, sat down with WBBM to discuss his organization’s views on Biden's new limits on the numbers of asylum seekers allowed in at the southern border.
He said turning people away who tried to enter through an official process does not necessarily mean they will turn around and go back where they came from.
“Once someone has left their country … they’re on their way, and they do not want to go back to a really desperate and, in many cases dangerous situation,” Tsao said. “They are going to try and come in however … they can.”
Tsao pointed out that some of those who are coming to the U.S. believe strongly that this country is where they need to be. He added that they may try to get in by whatever means are necessary.
“They may have family here; they may have community here; they may have some other networks here; and they will try to come in,” he said. “Again, understanding that they would be seeking some form of humanitarian leave because of the danger that would face them if they were to return home.”
That may mean crossing the U.S. border with the help of smugglers or braving their own crossing through the Rio Grande or the desert — risking their lives.
WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore discusses the migrant crisis with immigration expert and advocate Fred Tsao on WBBM’s “At Issue” program, which airs Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.
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