{"id":38901,"date":"2021-08-19T12:34:40","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T19:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=38901"},"modified":"2021-08-19T12:34:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T19:34:40","slug":"six-months-in-a-mixed-outcome-of-bidens-immigration-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=38901","title":{"rendered":"SIX MONTHS IN, A MIXED OUTCOME OF BIDEN\u2019S IMMIGRATION POLICIES"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by\u00a0Jenny Manrique<\/a><\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0Aug 19, 2021<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0Immigrant Rights<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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From left to right: Muzaffar Chishti, Director of the MPI office, New York University School of Law; Nicole Elizabeth Ramos, Director of the Border Rights Project, Al Otro Lado; Ava Benach, Founding Partner, Benach Collopy<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Also available in\u00a0Spanish<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although many of Trump\u2019s era directives have been reversed, the border and the interior tell a different tale for immigrants in the country.<\/p>\n

By: Jenny Manrique<\/strong><\/p>\n

Six months into his presidency, Joe Biden\u2019s promise to create a more humane immigration system in contrast to Donald Trump\u2019s harsh policies has mixed results: the illegal crossings at the border have escalated as well as the impossibility of protecting all asylum seekers, while within the country the 11 million unauthorized immigrants are no longer a priority for ICE enforcement.<\/p>\n

Experts on borders, courts and immigration policies, speaking on a recent virtual EMS briefing, agreed that Biden has maintained some of the harsh policies of the past while seeking to push for comprehensive immigration reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe policies of the Biden administration have largely failed at the border,\u201d said Nicole Ramos, Border Rights Project Director at \u2018Al Otro Lado\u2019, an NGO that works with asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexico. \u201cUnderstanding that there is a large cleanup of the leaks left by Trump\u2019s policies \u2026 winding down of MPP has proven to be a lot more complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MPP program, known as \u2018Remain in Mexico\u2019, forced asylum seekers from the northern triangle, Cuba and other Latin American countries to wait outside the United States for a resolution on their case. While Biden ended it, processing the roughly 70,000 people affected by that decision has been \u201cunnecessarily slow,\u201d and only those who had active cases entered the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who did not receive an order of termination from the immigration judge, who were unable to make it to court, or who were kidnapped and received an order of removal in absentia, were not included,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cICE attorneys could have chosen to do a reopening of all of those cases rather than individually, which leaves people stuck in Mexico for even longer periods of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramos also highlighted the situation of unaccompanied minors who continue being turned away by border patrol agents at the ports of entry with \u201calarming frequency\u201d under the excuse of Title 42. Due to the pandemic, Title 42 allows the authorities to prohibit the entry of people who potentially represent a health risk. Just in July, 200,000 people were apprehended at the border. These actions have already been litigated by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it did protect public health, not solely migrants would be subject to COVID screening but also US citizens and permanent residents,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cSince Title 42 has been in place, the number of (expelled) people that we encounter that have been victims of organized crime, either through the kidnapping and extortion of their family members in the United States or in their home country, or have been victims of forced labor or sex trafficking, has increased exponentially\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ramos shared cases of migrants who need medical attention for serious injuries but have been expelled under Title 42, as well as women about to give birth who are deported to Mexico and mothers from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti who, after giving birth in the United States, are removed with their children. Unaccompanied minors end up in a tent encampment at the Tijuana port of entry, a plaza controlled by organized crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Border Patrol continues to resist any directive to increase justice or access for migrants,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cIt is an agency culture that views immigrants as a potential danger to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICE Priorities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the worrying border reality, things in the interior look better. According to Muzaffar Chishti, Senior Fellow and Director of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) office at NYU School of Law, the Biden administration is considered \u201can immigration presidency on steroids.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first 6 months Biden has issued 155 executive actions, in contrast to 450 issued in Trump\u2019s four years, half of them reversing the damage done by the former president. Biden lifted all travel bans that President Trump had put in place, paused the border wall construction, reversed the initiative to not count the unauthorized in the census, reinstated the deferred enforcement for Liberians, and has been in favor of expanding and preserving DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).<\/p>\n

According to Chishti, Biden also restored Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for several nationalities and approved one for Venezuelans, making 750,000 people eligible to regularize under this figure. The Democrat increased the number of admissible refugees in the country to 62,000, and restored victims of domestic and gang violence as legitimate asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, on his first day he sent the most aggressive immigration blueprint, which included a pathway to citizenship for 11 million people, and clearing backlogs in family and employment-based applications,\u201d Chishti said. \u201cBut Biden can\u2019t do it by himself and Congress is divided, and Republicans will not support him as long as the border is seen or perceived as out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The support of 10 Republicans is needed to pass the bill. About 60% of Americans think immigration is a plus for the country.<\/p>\n

In the interior, the fact that ICE enforcement priorities now focus on recent arrivals suggests that, according to MPI calculations, 87% of the unauthorized population today have nothing to worry about a possible deportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of people who are detained has gone down hugely as has prolonged family detention\u2026 At the end of Trump\u2019s administration, a family typically stayed in detention for 60 days. Today, a family stays in detention for one day,\u201d Chishti added.<\/p>\n

Backlogs<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Ava Benach, attorney and founding partner of Benach Collopy, a Washington D.C.-based firm representing clients in removal proceedings and litigation matters before federal courts, \u201cthere is a tremendous sense of relief\u201d among practitioners, and also among communities who have lived \u201con edge over the last several years\u201d because of rumors of raids.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvocates have been saying that there is no interior enforcement, (telling clients) you don\u2019t have anything to worry about unless you find yourself arrested on criminal charges\u2026 There are ways to help a person by agreeing to join a claim for relief, reopening a case, so that they get the chance to apply for something that they seem qualified for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judges have regained a lot more control over their dockets and can administratively close cases, something that was previously micromanaged by the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

But even so, the backlog in family based and employment based green cards continues forcing immigrants from countries like India, China and the Philippines, to wait for decades in their home before joining their relatives here.<\/p>\n

\u201cBacklogs are a complicated scenario because a lot of green cards aren\u2019t used every year and go to waste,\u201d Benach said. \u201cThose backlogs put people at the mercy of their employers, reduce mobility and create a tremendous amount of anxiety,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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