The fundamental right to seek asylum
-
0:01 - 0:04Last summer, I got a call
from a woman named Ellie. -
0:04 - 0:07And she had heard about the family
separations at the southern border -
0:07 - 0:10and wanted to know
what she could do to help. -
0:10 - 0:14She told me the story
of her grandfather and his father. -
0:14 - 0:16When they were kids in Poland,
-
0:16 - 0:18their father,
-
0:18 - 0:20fearing for his son's safety,
-
0:20 - 0:23gave them a little bit of money
and told them to walk west, -
0:23 - 0:25to just keep walking west across Europe.
-
0:25 - 0:26And they did.
-
0:26 - 0:28They walked all the way
west across Europe, -
0:28 - 0:31and they got on a boat
and they got to America. -
0:32 - 0:36Ellie said that when she heard
the stories of the teens -
0:36 - 0:39walking up across Mexico,
-
0:39 - 0:43all she could think about
was her grandfather and his brother. -
0:43 - 0:47She said that for her, the stories
were exactly the same. -
0:48 - 0:51Those brothers were
the Hassenfeld Brothers -- -
0:51 - 0:53the "Has" "bros" --
-
0:55 - 0:57the Hasbro toy company,
-
0:57 - 1:00which, of course, brought us
Mr. Potato Head. -
1:01 - 1:04But that is not actually why
I'm telling you this story. -
1:05 - 1:09I'm telling you this story
because it made me think -
1:09 - 1:12about whether I would have the faith,
-
1:12 - 1:13the courage,
-
1:13 - 1:17to send my teens --
and I have three of them -- -
1:17 - 1:18on a journey like that.
-
1:19 - 1:23Knowing that they wouldn't
be safe where we were, -
1:23 - 1:25would I be able to watch them go?
-
1:27 - 1:32I started my career decades ago
at the southern US border, -
1:32 - 1:34working with Central American
asylum seekers. -
1:35 - 1:38And in the last 16 years,
I've been at HIAS, -
1:39 - 1:43the Jewish organization that fights
for refugee rights around the world, -
1:43 - 1:44as a lawyer and an advocate.
-
1:45 - 1:48And one thing I've learned
is that, sometimes, -
1:49 - 1:53the things that we're told
make us safer and stronger -
1:53 - 1:54actually don't.
-
1:55 - 2:00And, in fact, some of these policies
have the opposite of the intended results -
2:00 - 2:05and in the meantime, cause tremendous
and unnecessary suffering. -
2:07 - 2:10So why are people showing up
at our southern border? -
2:10 - 2:13Most of the immigrants and refugees
that are coming to our southern border -
2:13 - 2:17are fleeing three countries:
Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. -
2:18 - 2:20These countries are consistently ranked
-
2:20 - 2:24among the most violent
countries in the world. -
2:24 - 2:26It's very difficult to be safe
in these countries, -
2:26 - 2:29let alone build a future
for yourself and your family. -
2:30 - 2:33And violence against
women and girls is pervasive. -
2:34 - 2:37People have been fleeing Central America
-
2:37 - 2:39for generations.
-
2:39 - 2:42Generations of refugees
have been coming to our shores, -
2:42 - 2:46fleeing the civil wars of the 1980s,
-
2:46 - 2:49in which the United States
was deeply involved. -
2:49 - 2:51This is nothing new.
-
2:51 - 2:56What's new is that recently,
there's been a spike in families, -
2:56 - 2:59children and families,
showing up at checkpoints -
2:59 - 3:01and presenting themselves to seek asylum.
-
3:02 - 3:04Now, this has been in the news lately,
-
3:04 - 3:08so I want you to remember a few things
as you see those images. -
3:08 - 3:14One, this is not a historically high level
of interceptions at the southern border, -
3:14 - 3:17and, in fact, people are presenting
themselves at checkpoints. -
3:17 - 3:22Two, people are showing up
with the clothes on their backs; -
3:22 - 3:25some of them are literally in flip-flops.
-
3:25 - 3:28And three, we're the most
powerful country in the world. -
3:28 - 3:30It's not a time to panic.
-
3:31 - 3:33It's easy from the safety
of the destination country -
3:33 - 3:35to think in terms of absolutes:
-
3:35 - 3:37Is it legal, or is it illegal?
-
3:38 - 3:40But the people who are wrestling
with these questions -
3:40 - 3:44and making these decisions
about their families -
3:44 - 3:47are thinking about
very different questions: -
3:47 - 3:49How do I keep my daughter safe?
-
3:49 - 3:51How do I protect my son?
-
3:52 - 3:54And if you want absolutes,
-
3:54 - 3:57it's absolutely legal to seek asylum.
-
3:58 - 4:03It is a fundamental right in our own laws
and in international law. -
4:03 - 4:04And, in fact --
-
4:04 - 4:11(Applause)
-
4:11 - 4:14it stems from the 1951 Refugee Convention,
-
4:14 - 4:18which was the world's response
to the Holocaust -
4:18 - 4:21and a way for countries to say never again
would we return people to countries -
4:21 - 4:24where they would harmed or killed.
-
4:24 - 4:27There are several ways
refugees come to this country. -
4:27 - 4:30One is through the US Refugee
Admissions Program. -
4:30 - 4:34Through that program, the US identifies
and selects refugees abroad -
4:34 - 4:36and brings them to the United States.
-
4:37 - 4:40Last year, the US resettled fewer refugees
-
4:40 - 4:44than at any time since
the program began in 1980. -
4:44 - 4:46And this year, it'll probably be less.
-
4:47 - 4:50And this is at a time when we have
more refugees in the world -
4:50 - 4:52than at any other time
in recorded history, -
4:52 - 4:53even since World War II.
-
4:54 - 4:58Another way that refugees
come to this country is by seeking asylum. -
4:58 - 5:01Asylum seekers are people
who present themselves at a border -
5:01 - 5:04and say that they'll be persecuted
if they're sent back home. -
5:04 - 5:08An asylum seeker is simply somebody
who's going through the process -
5:08 - 5:09in the United States
-
5:09 - 5:11to prove that they meet
the refugee definition. -
5:13 - 5:17And it's never been
more difficult to seek asylum. -
5:17 - 5:20Border guards are telling people
when they show up at our borders -
5:20 - 5:23that our country's full,
that they simply can't apply. -
5:23 - 5:24This is unprecedented and illegal.
-
5:25 - 5:27Under a new program,
-
5:27 - 5:31with the kind of Orwellian title
"Migrant Protection Protocols," -
5:32 - 5:35refugees are told
they have to wait in Mexico -
5:35 - 5:39while their cases make their way
through the courts in the United States, -
5:39 - 5:40and this can take months or years.
-
5:40 - 5:42Meanwhile, they're not safe,
-
5:42 - 5:44and they have no access to lawyers.
-
5:46 - 5:50Our country, our government,
has detained over 3,000 children, -
5:50 - 5:53separating them from their parents' arms,
-
5:53 - 5:55as a deterrent from seeking asylum.
-
5:56 - 5:57Many were toddlers,
-
5:58 - 6:01and at least one was
a six-year-old blind girl. -
6:01 - 6:02And this is still going on.
-
6:03 - 6:07We spend billions to detain people
in what are virtually prisons -
6:07 - 6:08who have committed no crime.
-
6:11 - 6:16And family separation has become
the hallmark of our immigration system. -
6:17 - 6:22That's a far cry from a shining city
on a hill or a beacon of hope -
6:22 - 6:26or all of the other ways we like to talk
about ourselves and our values. -
6:26 - 6:29Migration has always been with us,
and it always will be. -
6:30 - 6:34The reasons why people flee --
persecution, war, violence, -
6:34 - 6:35climate change
-
6:35 - 6:39and the ability now to see on your phone
what life is like in other places -- -
6:39 - 6:41those pressures are only growing.
-
6:43 - 6:48But there are ways that we can have
policies that reflect our values -
6:48 - 6:51and actually make sense,
given the reality in the world. -
6:52 - 6:58The first thing we need to do
is dial back the toxic rhetoric -
6:58 - 7:03that has been the basis of our national
debate on this issue for too long. -
7:03 - 7:09(Applause)
-
7:11 - 7:14I am not an immigrant or a refugee myself,
-
7:14 - 7:18but I take these attacks personally,
because my grandparents were. -
7:19 - 7:24My great-grandmother Rose
didn't see her kids for seven years, -
7:24 - 7:26as she tried to bring them
from Poland to New York. -
7:26 - 7:28She left my grandfather
when he was seven -
7:28 - 7:30and didn't see him again
until he was 14. -
7:30 - 7:32On the other side of my family,
-
7:32 - 7:36my grandmother Aliza
left Poland in the 1930s -
7:36 - 7:38and left for what was then
the British Mandate of Palestine, -
7:38 - 7:41and she never saw
her family and friends again. -
7:42 - 7:47Global cooperation as a response
to global migration and displacement -
7:47 - 7:51would go a long way towards making
migration something that isn't a crisis -
7:51 - 7:53but something that just is,
-
7:53 - 7:55and that we deal with
as a global community. -
7:56 - 7:59Humanitarian aid is also critical.
-
7:59 - 8:02The amount of support we provide
to countries in Central America -
8:02 - 8:04that are sending refugees and migrants
-
8:04 - 8:10is a tiny fraction of the amount
we spend on enforcement and detention. -
8:11 - 8:15And we can absolutely
have an asylum system that works. -
8:15 - 8:18For a tiny fraction of the cost of a wall,
-
8:18 - 8:20we could hire more judges,
-
8:20 - 8:22make sure asylum seekers have lawyers
-
8:22 - 8:24and commit to a humane asylum system.
-
8:25 - 8:30(Applause)
-
8:33 - 8:36And we could resettle more refugees.
-
8:36 - 8:39To give you a sense of the decline
in the refugee program: -
8:39 - 8:44three years ago, the US resettled
15,000 Syrian refugees -
8:44 - 8:46in response to the largest
refugee crisis on earth. -
8:46 - 8:49A year later, that number was 3,000.
-
8:49 - 8:53And last year, that number was 62 people.
-
8:54 - 8:5662 people.
-
8:57 - 9:01Despite the harsh rhetoric
and efforts to block immigration, -
9:01 - 9:03keep refugees out of the country,
-
9:03 - 9:06support for refugees and immigrants
in this country, according to polls, -
9:06 - 9:07has never been higher.
-
9:07 - 9:09Organizations like HIAS, where I work,
-
9:09 - 9:12and other humanitarian
and faith-based organizations, -
9:12 - 9:14make it easy for you to take a stand
-
9:14 - 9:17when there's a law that's worth opposing
-
9:17 - 9:20or a law that's worth supporting
or a policy that needs oversight. -
9:20 - 9:22If you have a phone,
-
9:22 - 9:23you can do something,
-
9:23 - 9:25and if you want to do more, you can.
-
9:25 - 9:29I will tell you that if you see
one of these detention centers -
9:29 - 9:30along the border
-
9:30 - 9:32with children in them -- they're jails --
-
9:32 - 9:33you will never be the same.
-
9:35 - 9:38What I loved so much
about my call with Ellie -
9:39 - 9:43was that she knew in her core
that the stories of her grandparents -
9:44 - 9:46were no different than today's stories,
-
9:46 - 9:48and she wanted to do something about it.
-
9:49 - 9:51If I leave you with one thing,
-
9:51 - 9:54beyond the backstory
for Mr. Potato Head, -
9:54 - 9:57which is, of course,
a good story to leave with, -
9:57 - 10:01it's that a country shows strength
-
10:03 - 10:05through compassion and pragmatism,
-
10:05 - 10:07not through force and through fear.
-
10:07 - 10:13(Applause)
-
10:17 - 10:21These stories of the Hassenfelds
and my relatives and your relatives -
10:21 - 10:24are still happening today;
they're all the same. -
10:25 - 10:29A country is strong
when it says to the refugee, -
10:29 - 10:32not, "Go away," but,
-
10:32 - 10:35"It's OK, we've got you, you're safe."
-
10:35 - 10:36Thank you.
-
10:36 - 10:39(Applause)
-
10:39 - 10:40Thanks.
-
10:40 - 10:42(Applause)
- Title:
- The fundamental right to seek asylum
- Speaker:
- Melanie Nezer
- Description:
-
Refugee and immigrants rights attorney Melanie Nezer shares an urgently needed historical perspective on the crisis at the southern US border, showing how citizens can hold their governments accountable for protecting the vulnerable. "A country shows strength through compassion and pragmatism, not through force and through fear," she says.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 10:55
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The fundamental right to seek asylum | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The fundamental right to seek asylum | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The fundamental right to seek asylum | ||
Oliver Friedman approved English subtitles for The fundamental right to seek asylum | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for The fundamental right to seek asylum | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for The fundamental right to seek asylum | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for The fundamental right to seek asylum | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for The fundamental right to seek asylum |