Hundred Days Towards Hope: How the Biden Administration has Used its First Actions in Office to Address Immigration
The Trump administration was clear in its desire to crack down on immigration. The “America first” ideals that have defaced the possibility of a more inclusive society are only some of the actions that Donald Trump and his administration worked to solidify in American policy. However, with a new administration comes a new direction; one that contains direct action and specificity in the course chosen. Joe Biden has made his first few moves as the newest United States President in favor of a more progressive and humanitarian approach to handling matters of immigration. While there continues to be strife at the southern border of the country, the acts proposed by President Biden show promising steps towards establishing a more humanitarian basis for US immigration policies.
What’s on Biden’s Agenda?
I’ve heard whispers of reform coming from the White House, but honestly I was skeptical. Where I expected slight shifts in already slight advancements, I instead found a detailed list of concrete strides being proposed. President Biden has made it clear that his goal is to “restore humanity and American values to our immigration system,” and has been targeting initiatives focused on family reunification and implementing protections for undocumented young people. The President has incited a task force to handle family reunification, placed a 100 day pause on deportation, and halted the construction of the border wall. These are still only a few of the actions that have taken place since Inauguration day.
In addition to government plans that involve direct action, Biden has committed himself to working on the underlying rhetoric and problematic presentation that follows topics of immigration. The United States Citizenship Act is one way for Biden to assert his devotion to “embrace diversity” and “promote immigrant and refugee integration and citizenship,” despite recent efforts to do the opposite. Excitingly enough, Biden does not intend to stop the development of positive immigration at the border. Latin America has been an important topic in US politics since the start of the country. The flow of undocumented peoples, hailing from this region, is a direct result of decades long intervention and poor conflict management.
Biden’s policy proposal keeps in view the results of this complex history and focuses on the root causes of initial immigration. My personal favorite change that the President has made thus far is the switch in terminology regarding undocumented people. Biden intentionally changed the vernacular from “alien” to “noncitizen” — a vital subtlety in conversations of immigration. This type of attention to the way immigration is handled in the US, in a verbal realm, shows that this new administration is interested in the details. When faced with questions on the extremity of his measures, Biden assured the press that he is simply “eliminating bad policies” and acknowledging the systemic flaws at the basis of immigration policy. Biden also plans to:
- Allocate protections to asylum seekers without fear of deportation or illegality
- Encourage pathways to citizenship
- Improve immigration courts
- Manage the border
What Now?
Moving forward, the tendencies in US policy when it comes to immigration needs continuous attention. Though Biden’s advancements show some promise of betterment, the issues are deeply embedded. Many of the immigration policies that are being promoted, though eliminating some poor policies, are expanding on a system that is foundationally racist. The reality of the situation is that there is no current immigration policy that is equitable. Since each policy in the entire immigration process had been put in place due to racism and essentially with the intent to control the demographic of the country. An equitable immigration policy feels utopian.
However, the strides being made by the Biden administration are a step in the right direction. At the very least, families can find peace in knowing their reunification is in the works and deportation is no longer at the top of the governments list of priorities. Still, the immigration policies in the US need a lot of work, but this new administration seems to be interested in allowing immigration to take precedence in policymaking. For many immigrants living in the US both documented and undocumented, this proposal means hope. This hope allows for immigrants in the US to be treated as humans first.
