This piece is part of the series, A Human Rights Agenda for the Next U.S. Administration, outlining WOLA’s priorities for U.S. policies centered on human rights. As the United States prepares for a new administration, WOLA remains committed to justice, dignity, and the fundamental rights of individuals across the Americas. In this series, we highlight the critical human rights issues that should be at the forefront of policy discussions during this pivotal time.
WOLA works with partners to address the reasons why people are compelled to leave their homes, like democratic backsliding, persecution, criminal violence, climate harms, discrimination, gender-based violence, and poverty. As these challenges require long-term solutions, large numbers of people will continue to migrate in the meantime. They deserve a rights- respecting regional response centered on access to protection and expanded legal pathways.
We advocate for policies guided by these five principles:
1. Human Rights and Accountability at the Border
The culture of border security and migration agencies, especially in the United States, should treat migrants and asylum seekers as people who need protection and due process—not as adversaries. It should be a given that government agents throughout the migration route respect migrants’ basic human rights and avoid corrupt practices, and that when they fail to do so, they are held rigorously accountable.
- Accountability should extend to abuses that receive less attention but are often widespread, such as denying food, verbal or physical abuse, or confiscation of valuables.
- Processing and fair adjudication require adequate resources to issue migratory status decisions promptly with full guarantee of the right to seek protection and access to legal counsel.
- Protection of migrating populations should account for the differential impact and needs of women, Black, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and other vulnerable groups.
2. Upholding the Right to Asylum
The right to asylum is an international standard implemented after the horrors of World War II. The United States and countries throughout the region must guarantee everyone’s right to seek and enjoy asylum.
- Asylum seekers should be able to approach U.S. land-border ports of entry without enduring months-long waits in Mexico, where they are highly vulnerable to criminal groups that profit from the smuggling economy, migrant kidnappings, and extortion.
- They should enter a U.S. asylum system that has sufficient processing, case management, and adjudication capacity—unlike the backlogged system that exists today.
3. Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Reforms to U.S. immigration policy, including more temporary work programs and clearer and broader pathways to legal status, including citizenship, are fundamental to any long-term solution, despite the challenges posed by our current polarized politics.
- These reforms should uphold access to asylum for those needing protection from violence and persecution, but they should also maintain and expand additional legal pathways, such as seasonal and other labor-based visas, family reunification, and temporary migration mechanisms. Immigration reforms should include pathways to permanent residency and citizenship for the millions of undocumented migrants in the country and those with various forms of temporary legal status. .
- Comprehensive immigration reform should come without tradeoffs that harm human rights and civil liberties in U.S.-Mexico border communities, such as border-wall construction and increasing security presence and surveillance.
4. Addressing Root Causes of Migration
Root causes strategies can be effective if they are well-funded and supported with a long-term commitment. Strategies should include support for democratic practices and accountability for corruption and human rights violations.
- These “root causes” strategies should include a proactive response to the climate crisis, including support for adaptation and mitigation efforts.
- Efforts to address economic drivers of migration should go beyond promoting private investment and support initiatives that create equitable economic opportunities and address inequality.
5. Regional Cooperation and Integration
Throughout the region, coordination and cooperation should strengthen states’ ability to regularize and integrate migrants.
- The commitments made in the 2022 Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection should serve as the building blocks for a rights-centered, comprehensive regional response to migration.
- A reformed organizational culture at border agencies, based on human rights and respect for protection needs, should guide any U.S. interaction or assistance to border security and migration forces in the Americas.