Immigration Law and Policy Changes in a Biden Presidency
On the morning of Saturday, Nov. 7, many media outlets began to call the State of Pennsylvania for Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden. Following that decision, Biden carried enough electoral votes to become the projected winner of the U.S presidential election. Although votes are still being tallied around the country and President Trump is contesting the legality and validity of the election process, Ibrahim Law Office agrees with the overwhelming majority of sources declaring Biden the President-elect, set to be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021. Immigration Advocates nationwide are well-versed on what changes the Biden presidency will bring to immigration law and policy. We can start by taking a look at Biden’s campaign promises. The “Biden Plan” says that “Trump has waged an unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants. It’s wrong, and it stops when Joe Biden is elected president.” According to President-elect Biden’s campaign website, within the first 100 days of office, Biden promises to: Immediately end family separation at the U.S. border “End Trump’s detrimental asylum policies” “End the mismanagement of the asylum system, which fuels violence and chaos at the border” “Reverse Trump’s public charge rule.” “Protect Dreamers and their families.” Rescind the travel and refugee bans Re-evaluate and protect Temporary Protected Status (TPS) “Restore sensible enforcement priorities.” According to an article published in the Washington Post, Biden will immediately reinstate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”), which protects certain childhood migrants to the United States from deportation and provides them with the ability to work in the United States legally. The Washington Post also cites confirmation that Biden would immediately repeal President Trump’s “Muslim Ban,” which, with very limited exception, denies any entry to non-citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and North Korea, as well as some individuals from Venezuela. It remains unclear whether the “expanded ban,” which now includes certain individuals from Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, and Tanzania, will be terminated. Factbox (via Reuters) gives possible insight into Biden's first days in office. It is still unclear whether other travel bars, such as the “Immigrant Ban” and the “Nonimmigrant Ban” will be reversed. Similarly, the “Transit Ban” that impacts many people from Europe, Brazil, and China may be a subject of discussion in the Biden White House. Biden has publicly criticized some of these restrictions, pledging that he would seek to reform the H-1B visa program to factors that are “aligned with the labor market and not used to undermine wages.” Biden has declared that he will raise annual admissions numbers for refugees. We at Ibrahim Law Office would also like to draw President-elect Biden’s attention to several crucial immigration-related subjects. For instance, immigration courts have been backlogged with a large number of pending cases. Implementing fair Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) priorities would help alleviate these issues by deferring prosecution in some cases. The court system has also seen a rise in appeals and ongoing court litigation due to Trump's executive orders, proclamations, and his Attorney General’s anti-immigrant decisions at the Board of Immigration Appeals. We encourage the Biden presidency to consider these issues and make appropriate changes.
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