Biden will take time to unravel Trump's immigration changes | The State
Immigration experts were not wrong when they warned that the president Donald trump He would take advantage of the last minute to make changes to immigration rules, since five days before leaving the White House a new rule will take effect that will allow the courts to speed up deportations.
This is one of the changes in the Department of Justice (DOJ) more controversial, published in the Federal Register, which will be applied as of January 15, with the possibility of reverse even appeals.
During his campaign, the president-elect Joe biden put on the table an ambitious immigration agenda that contemplates the path to citizenship for more than 11 million undocumented people, the same benefit for the ‘dreamers’, as well as undoing the policies of President Trump that have affected foreign workers and students, among other groups.
In an interview on the occasion of his book Once i was you, the renowned journalist Maria Hinojosa He explained to this newspaper that immigrants have always faced inequality in the United States, but with the government of President Trump, the actions against them resulted in “human rights violations.”
Families requesting asylum are the ones that have suffered the most from these Republican policies with the separation of children from their parents in 2018. To date, more than 600 minors have not been able to be reunited with their parents.
In addition to this, more than 60,000 asylum seekers were “deported” to Mexico, in a policy known as “Stay in Mexico”, pending their hearings in immigration courts in the US Most, according to reports from activists and lawyers, will not be able to return to the country, except for those who have legal defense.
President-elect Biden has defended his agenda, but had to acknowledge that it will not be easy to implement. That will be your first broken campaign promise. He said that at the end of “Day 1” of his administration, the program would be finished, but last week he acknowledged that it will take months.
“The schedule is to do it so that, in fact, we do it better and not worse”Biden said. “I will do what I said. It will be needed, not day 1, it will probably take the next six months to implement it. “
As well as that promise, others on immigration issues will take time to be reversed or wait for congressional approval, before the end of 2022, when the Democratic majority in the House could again be in danger, after losing 11 seats on November 3. .
Three levels of reforms
There are at least three ways to implement migration changes. Congress is the only institution that can make substantive changes, redirect the entire system, but even without the help of legislators, President Trump managed to implement more than 400 adjustments in accordance with his conservative project, according to a report by the Migration Policy Institute. (MPI).
The immigration attorney, Dr. Nelson Castillo, of Immigration Today, explained that a president can promote laws, implement executive orders or apply new interpretations to current immigration laws under the administrative process published in the Federal Register, as happened with the rule with which this article begins.
“Of course, we are going to see of all the immigration proposals that Mr. Biden has made, which ones he will realistically be able to implement”, said Dr. Castillo. “One of the easiest is any executive action that President Trump has taken can be reversed by another executive action by President Biden, it can be taken immediately.”
In his first four months in office, President Trump implemented several executive orders that required action from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State on immigration matters.
For example, to justify the border wall and allocate more funds to the border, as well as modifications to the asylum and refugee system, the president signed order 13767 “Improvements in border security and immigration control.”
The increase in raids against undocumented persons found its justification in order 13768 “Improving public safety in the interior of the United States”, while greater scrutiny in customs was based on order 13769 “Protect the nation from the entry of foreign terrorists to the United States ”.
One of the most significant actions of President Trump, which allowed him to redefine the immigration system without the help of Congress, was Order 13788 “Buy American and Hire Americans,” as it prompted modifications to regulations for different work and student visas.
“There are executive actions and regulations on how to implement existing laws, many of which have gone through a scrutiny process that has given notice to the public; they integrate the comments, and then it is implemented ”, indicated Dr. Castillo.
The priorities
The president-elect’s government will face a complex challenge on immigration issues, but there are three priorities that experts and activists have put on the table: protecting the ‘dreamers’, strengthening the agricultural workforce and ensuring the legal status of the undocumented population.
Alejandro Mayorkas, nominated by Biden as Secretary of Homeland Security, recognized the importance and challenge that will be “Fix the broken immigration system”.
“Our immigration system is broken and we all know it, the cost of that broken system is incalculably high, preventing not only families from a better life, but also the country from prosperity,” he said in the virtual forum organized by the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC).
He added that attention should be paid to workers of all types, from agricultural to those specialized in technology.
“President-elect Joe Biden is committed to fixing this broken immigration system,” Mayorkas said.
The Democratic Division
Dr. Castillo acknowledges that much of the fund plans will depend on Congress.
“In January we will see what will happen to the Senate, if it continues to be divided … things may not progress”, stated in reference to the special election in Georgia that could give a majority to Democrats or Republicans.
The best scenario is that the Democrats manage to control the Senate, but it does not guarantee that they will agree on the moment of deciding on immigration matters.
“There is a great diversity of thought on immigration issues, from those who say let’s open the border … or that there should be no Border patrol … to the other end of closing the border,” he said. “Even with the Democrats in control of the House, nothing guarantees you that there will be an immigration reform, although obviously one has more expectations.”
The immigration lawyer, who operates in California, recalled that in the eighties the president Ronald reagan endorsed what, until now, has been the most advanced immigration reform.
“If you see, the legalization that happened in the eighties happened with a Republican administration, with President Reagan.”, he remembered. “Both political parties, in one way or another, have built the current immigration code that we have.”
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