The Faculty Lounge: It's good to be back....Can President Biden End Indelible Debates Over Immigration?

January 13, 2021

It's good to be back....Can President Biden End Indelible Debates Over Immigration?

President-elect Biden promised to roll back the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policies, but shortly thereafter he backtracked over asylum rates in order to avoid winding up with “2 million people on our border.” Sadly, this about-face on one aspect of the immigration debate exemplifies domestic leaders' lack of will to address sensible and comprehensive reform. Historically, those antagonistic to immigration, such as President Donald Trump, focused on the largely baseless immigrant threat. The democrats for their part, more often than not, seem to be sympathetic but in the end only propose stop-gap non-legislative measures that are temporary, such as executive policies that can be easily changed or ended by subsequent presidents. Sadly, President-elect Biden's proposals on immigration do not seem to get the country much closer to address the loggerhead over immigration.

It may be refreshing Biden did not launch his campaign by attacking and scapegoating immigrants by calling them “rapists” and “drug dealers.” And it is in fact useful he admitted that deporting migrants that had not committed any crimes was a “big mistake.” A Biden administration can nonetheless do far more. His administration must have the courage to pass comprehensive immigration reform (CRI).

As things stand now, the question remains how the Biden administration will prioritize competing immigration and national security demands. Such demands include the treatment and priority of asylum-seekers and refugees, the eligibility of deferred action childhood arrivals (DACA), the availability of temporary protective status (TPS), the importance visa applicants, and concerns over border security and organized crime deterrence.

Biden has thus far promised a moratorium on deportations for the first 100 days of his presidency with a focus on what he called “sensible enforcement priorities” — deporting only those who pose a national security threat or have criminal records. He also has promised a host of other pro-immigrant executive efforts, including: 1) using an executive order to rescind Trump’s 2017 Travel Ban, 2) providing permanent protection to DACA recipients; 3) increasing the annual refugee admissions cap to 125,000, compared to the Trump administration’s level of 15,000 in 2015; 4) rolling back Trump administration changes to the asylum-seeking application process; 5) ending Trump’s pet-project: the largely useless and shockingly expensive border wall; and 6) reviewing TPS “for vulnerable populations who cannot find safety in their countries ripped apart by violence or disaster.”

Upon closer examination, other than rejecting Trump’s xenophobic policies and vitriolic rhetoric, there is little meat on the bone of the Biden Administration’s national immigration policy. For instance, of the six priorities listed above, other than a promise to propose legislative action for early childhood arrivals (the most sympathetic of all undocumented immigrants), also known as dreamers, Biden’s priorities resemble President Obama’s priorities. While Biden has rejected the deportation of non-criminals, there is little in terms of legislative proposals in Biden’s immigration focus. Further, in order to obtain bi-partisan support, his publicly-stated priorities should include an examination of border security measures and their effectiveness.

Instead of stop-gap executive action or prosecutorial discretionary measures, such as "reviewing TPS,” President Biden should take advantage of the good-will garnered by his election and take on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform. During his proposed 100-day moratorium on deportations, for instance, he should assemble a group of bi-partisan immigration, economic, and national security experts to examine the need and feasibility of comprehensive immigration reform. Such an undertaking will invariably take more than 100 days to complete, but will speak volumes of President Biden’s priorities and seriousness on these issues. Instead of proposing and implementing Trump’s horrific family separation policy, for instance, imagine the statement it would make if President Biden makes clear he wants to resolve an issue no politician has effectively addressed?

Nearly a decade ago I penned a CRI model addressing the competing interests of immigrant advocates on the one hand, and immigration skeptics on the other. This comprehensive law included: 1) a guest worker program with provisions for workers’ rights; (2) passage of federal DREAM Act legislation; (3) legislation whereby undocumented immigrants without a criminal record can initiate a process toward citizenship; (4) authorizing the granting of lawful permanent resident status for immigrants that have received a Master’s or PhD degree from an American university in the Science, technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields; and (5) a reform plan to streamline skilled worker visa programs in order to promote the best and the brightest to study in needed fields.

Instead of following the same path of prior administrations with republicans attacking and scapegoating immigrants and democrats appearing to support immigrants with little substantive results, the time is right for a new administration to take on the tough tasks and pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Posted by Ediberto Roman at 02:15 AM | Permalink