The Supreme Court ruled on June 25th, 2026, in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado to turn away asylum seekers at the border and prevent them from crossing into the U.S. By preventing them from crossing the border, asylum seekers are not allowed to apply for asylum. Asylum seekers have already risked everything and have survived a dangerous, harrowing journey to reach the U.S. Turning them away at the border is cruel and immoral. 

SCOTUS also ruled to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over 350,000 Haitians and Syrians. TPS allows nationals of unsafe countries to live and work in the U.S. and protects them from deportation.      

Leviticus 19:34 reminds us of our duty to care for refugees, saying, "The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” Time and again throughout the Bible we are called to love one another. Jesus even goes so far as to tell us how to love each other in Matthew 25:35, "For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and you invited me in."  

Turning away people in desperate need is not consistent with our faith. Nor is it right for our nation to fuel the very instability abroad that drives people to flee in the first place. The current budget reconciliation bill strips funding from SNAP and Medicaid for refugees while redirecting those resources toward detention and deportation efforts. Meanwhile, the administration has suspended the refugee resettlement program and canceled thousands of already-scheduled flights for people awaiting resettlement. 

In light of this decision to abandon those fleeing persecution and danger, we are urging the President to restart the refugee resettlement program and support the bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE). We are also asking Senators to pass S. 4814, which would designate Haiti as a TPS country and allow Haitians to stay in the U.S.