JRS/USA Calls on President-Elect Biden to Respond to the Needs of Forcibly Displaced People

07 November 2020

With the announcement that Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the US Presidential election, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA calls on his future Administration to carefully consider refugees and forcibly displaced people as they set a policy agenda.

President-Elect Biden has, as a part of his campaign, made a commitment to restore our country’s historic role as a leader in creating space and welcome for refugees. He has pledged to increase the number of refugees resettled in the United States to 125,000, from a current cap of 15,000 and asserted his intent to protect asylum and end the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” known as the Remain in Mexico policy. We strongly urge President-elect Biden to fulfill these promises.

In an interconnected world, how we respond to the millions of families and children who have been forced to flee their homes affects not only their future but the future for all of us. The US has been a leader in providing critical overseas humanitarian assistance and we urge President-Elect Biden to continue this support. Now is not the time to turn our backs on helping to meet their most basic needs.

As an organization driven by our faith, JRS/USA believes that to welcome and walk with the stranger is our obligation. We encourage President-Elect Biden, as the second Catholic President of the United States, to share in this obligation and heed the call from Pope Francis to build bridges and not walls. We look forward to working with the President-Elect and his Administration to do our part in advancing this important work.