Biden administration gears up to inherit Trump’s controversial immigration policies

Miller, President Donald Trump’s senior immigration adviser and architect of his hard-line immigration agenda, has spearheaded some of the most restrictive immigration policies – and continues to do so – in a bid to curb immigration to United States. The hundreds of executive actions taken by the Trump administration have drawn the wrath of immigrant advocates and lawmakers, who claim they have betrayed the country’s welcoming position.

The composition of the Biden-Harris transition team reviewing the Department of Homeland Security appears to signal the new administration’s awareness of these actions, with Ur Jaddou, former chief counsel for the states citizenship and immigration services -Unis, as team leader, and with the selection of Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary of Internal Security. But canceling the policies – as Biden has said – will be a tall order, both logistically and politically.

“They come to the office with a mandate and an intention – in many ways necessary and appropriate – to reverse the immigration policies of the Trump era,” a former homeland security official told CNN.

But a shift in actual arrivals would require policy changes and further interviews with the refugees, according to a source familiar with the process. The hijacking of refugee officers to work on asylum cases over the past two years has also left the pipeline largely empty of refugees who are advanced through the system, the source said. The Covid-19 also poses problems, including the inability to travel maintenance crews of the United States citizenship and immigration services.

The Biden administration also promised to repeal regulations that have made seeking asylum in the United States extremely difficult – a process that could take months. But in the near future, the most pressing challenge for a Biden administration might be how to fulfill those promises, while recognizing the potential for a surge in migrants at the US-Mexico border.

The Trump administration implemented two major policies on the US-Mexico border that were unprecedented – the so-called “stay in Mexico” policy, which returned non-Mexican asylum seekers to Mexico until the date of their immigration court in the United States, and a public health order, linked to the coronavirus, which allows the rapid removal of migrants arrested at the border.

Each of these policies has made it nearly impossible to seek asylum in the United States at the southern border, but withdrawing them too quickly could lead to a sudden surge in migrants at the southern border.

“You don’t want a surge to happen until you’re ready to deal with it,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank. “They’re going to have to rely on one of the policies they hate the most and which they philosophically disagree with, so that they can find a long-term solution.”

The former DHS official echoed this concern: “You have to have a pressure valve in place before you start rolling out these policies or you will allow a crisis to happen.”

Wait in Mexico

It is a reality that is also settling for those who wait in Mexico, often in deplorable conditions.

“Hope is immediate return and parole for all. Reality will likely be something less than hopes,” said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration lawyer who represents migrants on the program.

One of the “most important” steps the new administration can take is to help Mexico develop a safe and secure system for asylum seekers, said former customs and border protection commissioner Gil Kerlikowske, who served in the Obama administration.

“I think you’ll see them very aligned on this,” Kerlikowske said of Blinken and Mayorkas.

Mayorkas, whom Biden has chosen to head the Department of Homeland Security, will lead most of the immigration changes. As a senior official in the Obama administration, Mayorkas served as Deputy Secretary of DHS and Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, an immigration agency within the department, where he played a key role. in the implementation of deferred action for child arrivals.

If confirmed, Mayorkas will take over a department that was drawn into politics as it implemented Trump’s aggressive agenda to limit immigration, step up immigration law enforcement and build a wall to the southwest border. The department has also been hampered by a leadership vacuum in the upper echelons and has not had a Senate confirmed secretary since April 2019.

The selection of Mayorkas to head DHS was immediately greeted with praise from immigrant advocates who criticized immigration changes under the Trump administration and launched a series of lawsuits against those changes.

Immigration legislation in a Biden administration

Immigrant advocacy groups and nonprofits are likely to play an outsized role in the Biden administration after being at the forefront of the ramifications of Trump’s policymaking. To give a nod to the influence they will exert over the next four years, Biden’s transition team has already connected with immigrant advocacy groups to hear about the issues that concern them, according to a source close to the discussions. The source stressed the need for major changes early on, so as not to lose momentum.

“We believe right now – after four years of dismay over the immigrant community and the immigration system – that this is a top priority now as an economic engine for this nation facing crisis. … And a moral driver after the harm done to immigrants by the Trump administration, ”said Alida Garcia, vice president of advocacy at FWD.us.

To that end, immigration law will be a priority for a Biden administration. “I will commit in the first 100 days. I will send an immigration bill to the United States Senate with a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented migrants in America.” Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt in his first post. – election interview last week.

California Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren is likely to play a pivotal role in immigration legislation. His staff have been in contact with Biden staff on what needs to be done on immigration, including on the administrative side. “They have to untie some of this president’s terrible policies and it won’t be easy,” Lofgren said, adding that these actions could take time.

The legislation should include relief for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as a child and who were protected from deportation through the DACA, which was in a state of uncertainty under Trump. The legislation would likely also include people protected under humanitarian aid, known as temporary protection status, and essential workers.

“There’s a lot of dialogue about moving past the Obama years. One of the things we’ve all experienced during this time is that immigration has been pushed for later,” said Garcia of Fwd.us.

“The later you leave, the more difficult it becomes because people prioritize their own re-election.”