omprehensive immigration reform is a popular promise for elected officials, but lasting and substantive change is far more rare.
Due to partisan gridlock and bureaucratic red tape, there are few areas where executive orders are more important. During his tenure, former President Trump enacted over 400 executive orders on immigration — ranging from border enforcement to asylum and refugee resettlement. COVID-19 further provided the administration reasons to curtail immigration and attempt the ouster of international students before university outcry and lawsuits suspended the latter policy.
President Joe Biden has already picked up the executive pen, signing orders aimed at reuniting immigrant families still separated at the US-Mexico border, ending the travel ban and border wall construction, and establishing a review process for existing immigration policy.
One such order — aimed at pausing deportations for 100 days — has already been blocked from implementation by the Texas attorney general and a judge appointed by Trump. These blockages demonstrate one major hurdle to Biden’s immigration agenda: right-leaning officials in key places of power antagonistic towards his agenda.
Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has had some short-term successes, having granted temporary legal status to Liberians fleeing civil war and Ebola until June 2022 and killed a former White House lawsuit aimed at ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA.)
Biden has also proposed legislation enacting a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who have paid taxes and cleared background checks. If passed, the bill would usher in one of the largest demographic shifts in modern history.
For long-term solutions, Biden has established a task force which “will address the underlying causes of migration” across the US southern border and establish a humane asylum process.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, America’s southern crisis stems from political instability, violence, and poor economic prospects. Immigrants are drawn to the US due to its job opportunities and many migrants’ long standing cultural and familial ties. Much of the crisis also stems from decades of the US’s dysfunctional foreign policy, including a fruitless war on drugs and Cold War-era intervention.
Streamlining the legal process and shortening wait times for existing and new immigrants is another throughline in Biden’s orders. While the procedural changes are far from glamorous, the effects could be life-changing. Spousal visas for H1-B (long-term employment-based green cards) holders currently have a 2 year processing time under Trump-era requirements. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employment-based visa backlog has grown to 1.2 million — for Indian-employer sponsored applicants, that’s an eight decade wait during which 200,000 people would die before reaching the front of the line.
Biden is poised to chart a new path for immigration that is rife with hope and hazards. He has to thread the same judicial needle as President Obama, who accomplished a rare feat with DACA: writing an executive order which could not be easily repealed by an unsympathetic successor. Unlike his last Democratic predecessor though, Biden’s early executive action shows that he won’t wait five years for reform. A balancing-act between the best and worst of his former running mate and a complete u-turn from his nationalistic predecessor, Biden pioneers a quietly-optimistic future for American immigrants.
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What Joe Biden’s Election Means for Immigration
March 3, 2021
Comprehensive immigration reform is a popular promise for elected officials, but lasting and substantive change is far more rare.
C
omprehensive immigration reform is a popular promise for elected officials, but lasting and substantive change is far more rare.
Due to partisan gridlock and bureaucratic red tape, there are few areas where executive orders are more important. During his tenure, former President Trump enacted over 400 executive orders on immigration — ranging from border enforcement to asylum and refugee resettlement. COVID-19 further provided the administration reasons to curtail immigration and attempt the ouster of international students before university outcry and lawsuits suspended the latter policy.
President Joe Biden has already picked up the executive pen, signing orders aimed at reuniting immigrant families still separated at the US-Mexico border, ending the travel ban and border wall construction, and establishing a review process for existing immigration policy.
One such order — aimed at pausing deportations for 100 days — has already been blocked from implementation by the Texas attorney general and a judge appointed by Trump. These blockages demonstrate one major hurdle to Biden’s immigration agenda: right-leaning officials in key places of power antagonistic towards his agenda.
Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has had some short-term successes, having granted temporary legal status to Liberians fleeing civil war and Ebola until June 2022 and killed a former White House lawsuit aimed at ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA.)
Biden has also proposed legislation enacting a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who have paid taxes and cleared background checks. If passed, the bill would usher in one of the largest demographic shifts in modern history.
For long-term solutions, Biden has established a task force which “will address the underlying causes of migration” across the US southern border and establish a humane asylum process.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, America’s southern crisis stems from political instability, violence, and poor economic prospects. Immigrants are drawn to the US due to its job opportunities and many migrants’ long standing cultural and familial ties. Much of the crisis also stems from decades of the US’s dysfunctional foreign policy, including a fruitless war on drugs and Cold War-era intervention.
Streamlining the legal process and shortening wait times for existing and new immigrants is another throughline in Biden’s orders. While the procedural changes are far from glamorous, the effects could be life-changing. Spousal visas for H1-B (long-term employment-based green cards) holders currently have a 2 year processing time under Trump-era requirements. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employment-based visa backlog has grown to 1.2 million — for Indian-employer sponsored applicants, that’s an eight decade wait during which 200,000 people would die before reaching the front of the line.
Biden is poised to chart a new path for immigration that is rife with hope and hazards. He has to thread the same judicial needle as President Obama, who accomplished a rare feat with DACA: writing an executive order which could not be easily repealed by an unsympathetic successor. Unlike his last Democratic predecessor though, Biden’s early executive action shows that he won’t wait five years for reform. A balancing-act between the best and worst of his former running mate and a complete u-turn from his nationalistic predecessor, Biden pioneers a quietly-optimistic future for American immigrants.
