Aspects of Biden’s asylum rule could violate international protections, says head of UN refugee agency

GENEVA – The head of the United Nations refugee agency says he understands that the Biden administration has enacted new restrictions on the entry of asylum seekers into the United States, but warned that some aspects of the executive order may violate the protection of refugees required by international law.

Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, spoke to the Associated Press as his agency published its annual “Global Trends” report for 2023 on Thursday. It found that the cumulative number of people subject to forced displacement increased to 120 million in 2023 – 6 million more than the previous year.

The refugee agency noted that the total count was roughly equivalent to the entire population of Japan.

The United States, however, faced the “most complex challenge” when it comes to refugees from any country in the developed world, Grandi said — alluding to an influx across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The head of the UN refugee agency criticized the Biden administration plans to enact new restrictions about migrants seeking asylum at the border — seen by some as a political maneuver ahead of November’s national elections — as a possible violation of international humanitarian law.

But he acknowledged that the Biden administration’s ambitions to resettle some 125,000 refugees in the United States constituted “a very shining example of U.S. generosity.”

In the US, on Wednesday, a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups sued the administration for recent directive on asylum claims at the southern border, saying it differs little from a similar Trump administration measure that was blocked by the courts.

The UNHCR report found that three-quarters of forcibly displaced people around the world – including refugees expelled abroad and people displaced within their own countries – lived in poor or middle-income countries. Grandi insisted this was a sign that migrant and refugee flows were not just a problem for the rich world.

He lamented the way in which crises in Africa were largely ignored, particularly in Sudan, where around 10.8 million people were displaced at the end of last year, after conflict broke out between forces loyal to rival generals in April last year. .

Grandi said the world’s focus on the crises facing refugees and internally displaced people has largely centered on Gaza – where a devastating and deadly conflict erupted in October last year – and Ukraine, which has been ravaged by Russia’s invasion since February 2022.

He lamented how the world has largely ignored the refugee crisis generated by the conflict in Sudan.

UNHCR also highlighted the difficulties faced by refugees and internally displaced people amid conflicts in countries such as Congo and Myanmar, and noted that Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with nearly 14 million people forcibly displaced. , both within the country and abroad.