Biden Takes Executive Actions on Immigration

President Biden has taken many executive actions to revers Trump administration policies. Here's a summary:

• Proclamation reversing Trump's ban on travel from predominantly Muslim countries.
• Memorandum strengthening Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) for certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children.
• Proclamation ending construction of Trump's signature wall on the US-Mexican border by proclaiming the "immediate termination" of the national emergency declaration Trump used to fund it.
• Executive order revoking Trump's 2017 Interior Enforcement Executive Order which broadened the categories of undocumented immigrants subject to removal, restarted the Secure Communities program and supported federal deportation program.
• Executive order reestablishing the Task Force on New Americas to help integrate immigrants into American communities. The order will also call on government agencies to conduct a review of regulations and policies that create barriers for legal immigration.
• Executive order introducing an inter-agency task force to reunify families by identifying the children and parents or guardians who were separated at the border, facilitating reunification, and then creating a report on recommendations to ensure the federal government does not have policies in place to separate families.
• Executive order creating a framework addressing the underlying causes of migration to the United States' southern border from mostly Central American countries, and work with foreign governments and organizations to create opportunities to process migrants seeking asylum in that region.
• Executive order calling for an extensive analysis of asylum processing.
• Executive order directing a re-examination of the public charge rule.
• Directing a complete review of Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Programs.
• Launching a goal to increase refugee admissions to 125,000 in first fiscal year of Biden-Harris administration.

President Biden had imposed a 100-day pause in all deportations beginning January 6, 2021, but this was largely blocked by a federal judge in Texas. Most likely, this action will be battled out in the courts.

Graphic by artist/activist Ariel Sinha