Biden swiftly begins sweeping away Trump's immigration barriers

[webfact 82,030]

Biden swiftly begins sweeping away Trump's immigration barriers

By Ted Hesson, Mica Rosenberg, Mimi Dwyer and Kristina Cooke

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President-elect Joe Biden introduces key members of his White House science team at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., January 16, 2021 REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden signed half a dozen executive orders on Wednesday to reverse several hardline immigration policies put in place by former President Donald Trump, although migration experts warn that it will take months or longer to unravel many of the restrictions imposed in the past four years.

 

In a sharp departure from his Republican predecessor, Biden, a Democrat, also sent an immigration bill to lawmakers that proposes opening a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants living in the United States unlawfully.

 

The executive actions signed at a ceremony at the White House included immediately lifting a travel ban on 13 mostly Muslim-majority and African countries, halting construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and reversing a Trump order preventing migrants who are in the United States illegally from being counted for congressional districts.

 

Biden also signed a memorandum directing the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. attorney general to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects migrants who came to the country as children from deportation, and reversed Trump's executive order calling for stricter interior immigration enforcement.

 

Taken together, the actions show Biden is beginning his presidency with a sharp focus on immigration, just as Trump kept the issue at the center of his policy agenda until the last days of his administration. In one of his rare post-election public appearances, Trump visited a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall earlier this month.

 

Biden's decision to immediately roll back Trump's travel ban won praise from business groups and migrant advocates. Myron Brilliant, an executive at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the ban was "was not aligned with American values" and its reversal would help "restore our credibility on the global stage."

 

Since December 2017, after a revised version of the ban was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, some 40,000 people have been barred from entering the United States under the ban, according to State Department data.

 

MORE ACTIONS COMING

Biden plans additional executive actions on Jan. 29 to restore U.S. asylum protections, strengthen refugee processing and set up a task force to reunify families still separated by Trump's border policies, according to a memo shared with lawmakers and obtained by Reuters.

 

At the same time, the Biden administration will also review barriers to legal immigration put in place by Trump over the past four years, including a regulation that made it harder for poorer immigrants to get permanent residency, the memo said.

 

The new president is also expected on Jan. 29 to end a Trump program called the Migrant Protection Protocols, according to a person familiar with the plan. The program has left tens of thousands of asylum seekers waiting in Mexico for U.S. court hearings, with many stuck for months in squalid tent camps near the southwest border.

 

BILL NO SLAM DUNK

Lifting the travel and implementing executive orders may be an easier task than getting Congress to pass Biden's ambitious immigration bill. It lays out an eight-year road map to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country unlawfully, according to a fact sheet distributed to reporters by incoming White House officials on Tuesday.

 

Eligible immigrants who were in the country as of Jan. 1 and meet certain requirements would be given a temporary status for five years before being granted green cards. They could then apply for citizenship after three more years, officials said.

 

The wait time for legalization would be shorter for DACA recipients and immigrants living in the United States with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), both programs Trump tried to end. It would also be expedited for some farmworkers.

 

While Democrats effectively hold a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate will be divided 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote. A lack of bipartisan support has torpedoed past efforts to overhaul the immigration system.

 

On Tuesday, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida called the bill a "non-starter" that included "a blanket amnesty for people who are here unlawfully."

 

Advocates acknowledge privately that the ambitious bill would probably serve more as a statement of goals to set the stage for a series of smaller, single issue bills that might attract more bipartisan support.

 

In the meantime, Biden faces a more immediate issue. Migrant caravans have been on the move in Central America, with some aiming to arrive at the southwest border after Biden's inauguration. On Monday, baton-wielding Guatemalan soldiers clashed with migrants, removing a large part of a caravan that included women and children.

 

Biden's actions on his first day in office do not include repealing a coronavirus pandemic-era order issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that allows border officials to expel almost all border crossers, according to fact sheets released by his team.

 

More than 380,000 people have been quickly sent to their home countries or pushed back to Mexico under the order, known as "Title 42" for the statute it falls under, since March 2020, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

 

Incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on a call with reporters on Tuesday that it would be "unwise" for migrants to come to the border now because of limited capacity to process asylum claims.

 

"The situation at the border is one we intend to change, but it is going to take considerable time," he said.

 

(Reporting by Mimi Dwyer in Los Angeles, Mica Rosenberg in New York and Ted Hesson in Washington and Kristina Cooke in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Dan Trotta; Editing by Ross Colvin, Aurora Ellis and Paul Simao)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-21

 

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[Thailand 18,698]

Has somebody gone?

[Poet 2,155]

It is good that the U.S. is finally taking concrete steps to remove the scourge of white privilege for once and for all. We should be airlifting these thousands of Hondurans directly to the U.S. city of their choice, not have them walk 1,600 miles and force them to deal with the anti-migrant racism of the Guetamalans and Mexicans.
 

35 minutes ago, webfact said:

Biden's ambitious immigration bill. It lays out an eight-year road map to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country unlawfully

Giving citizenship to 11 million immigrants who entered unlawfully will have the side-effect of almost entirely eliminating illegal immigrants within the US, something Trump never came close to achieving.

 

[Tug 22,323]

If properly vetted then great welcome aboard 

[Poet 2,155]

1 minute ago, Tug said:

If properly vetted then great welcome aboard 

Entering unlawfully means they went through no vetting process. It is unlikely those already in the US will be vetted now, although one would hope that those incarcerated for serious crimes will not be automatically granted citizenship.

The actual figure is higher than 11m. The Office of Immigration Statistics at DHS estimated 12m at the end of 2014. More may have entered during the following six years.

 

[impulse 21,063]

27 minutes ago, Poet said:

Giving citizenship to 11 million immigrants who entered unlawfully will have the side-effect of almost entirely eliminating illegal immigrants within the US, something Trump never came close to achieving.

 

 

Nope.  We'll still have 11 million illegals.  Probably even more.  They'll just be new ones.  Encouraged by yet another amnesty program that rewards the ones that crossed over illegally last year.  

 

[Chomper Higgot 36,685]

Great to see a real President hit the ground running.

 

He’s got a whole lot of mess left by Trump to clear.

 

 

[Mama Noodle 6,537]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Lifting the travel and implementing executive orders may be an easier task than getting Congress to pass Biden's ambitious immigration bill. It lays out an eight-year road map to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country unlawfully, according to a fact sheet distributed to reporters by incoming White House officials on Tuesday.

 

Eligible immigrants who were in the country as of Jan. 1 and meet certain requirements would be given a temporary status for five years before being granted green cards. They could then apply for citizenship after three more years, officials said.

 

Why even have a country at all if a major political party is hell bent on importing a huge voting base from south of the border? The only reason Dems want this is because they know it'll turn Texas and Florida blue. And the illegal alien figure is a heck of alot bigger than 11 million.

 

But yet again, this is typical Democrat politics. Campaign on the pandemic and economy, the working man and aid, jobs, Trump bad, and what's one of the first things they do on day one? 

 

Immigration. 

[Mama Noodle 6,537]

19 minutes ago, impulse said:

Nope.  We'll still have 11 million illegals.  Probably even more.  They'll just be new ones.  Encouraged by yet another amnesty program that rewards the ones that crossed over illegally last year.  

 

We went through this with Raegan already, and here we are again. 

[ezzra 44,072]

As the old saying goes: New broom sweeps clean... let us see no how clean and for how long?...

[olfu 373]

I dont know but these ideas smells like big scam.

Like anybody who illegally cross border yesterday suddenly ready for being be a citizen without any vetting.

[EVENKEEL 5,827]

illegal alien definition 

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/illegal-alien

So can we please stop calling those who enter the USA illegally as immigrants.

[LennyW 6,730]

And so the tragic demise of America begins.....

 

 

[Anthony Bartell 13]

The best possible news. American xenophobia no longer has official sanction.

[mr mr 5,991]

changing and updating the countries immigration policies is great. 

 

if you took a sample of 11 million people from any region in the world you are going to find good and bad people within that group. how does one wade through this  mess in rewarding those with legit claims vs those trying to game the system. not an easy job at all. 

 

fun fact though. the USA takes in more immigrants than any other country in the world.