The Future of U.S. Immigration Under President Biden
America has long been known as a “country of immigrants.” A nation where people of any race, religion, or class can travel in order to make a life for themselves. A sanctuary where people fleeing persecution can safely reside without fearing for their lives. A nation of economic promise where anyone can climb up the social ladder and enjoy the luxuries of life. In recent years, however, the U.S. has drifted further and further away from the ideals it was founded upon.
For the past four years, the Trump administration has prioritized reducing immigration to the U.S., burdening those who come to this nation seeking refuge, work, or a better education. However, things are looking up for prospective immigrants as President Joe Biden was sworn in on January 20, 2021, promising to replace President Trump and his administration’s hostile stance on immigration. To the almost 300,000 AAPI immigrants entering the U.S. annually, Biden’s promise to modernize the U.S. immigration system and to support those who are vital to our nation’s rich, cultural diversity is extremely heartening.
During his Vice Presidency, Biden expressed immense support for the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program which aimed to protect immigrants who came to the U.S. as young children from deportation. In response to President Trump’s attempts to terminate the program, Biden said he hopes to reinvigorate DACA by allowing more undocumented youth to join the program. Though many people associate the DACA program with immigrants of Latin American and South American descent, the program encompasses young undocumented immigrants in the U.S. of any nationality and protects them from the threat of deportation. However, in comparison to other ethnicities, undocumented AAPI youth are the least likely to apply for DACA with statistics showing that as of 2016 only 20% of eligible AAPIs sought protection through DACA. Many attribute these disproportionately low DACA application rates to subpar multilingual community outreach, cultural stigma associated with applying for DACA in AAPI communities, and limited media coverage of the issue. No matter the reason for this lack of enrollment from AAPI youth, Biden’s revitalization of the program could help enroll hundreds of thousands of undocumented AAPI children and protect them from deportation.
On the campaign trail, Biden also expressed a desire to improve the quality of life for the millions of undocumented immigrants across America. One major issue he highlighted was healthcare. Previously, DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrants were not eligible for Medicare, but Biden hopes to provide good-quality health coverage to them despite their legal status. Though the viability of his claims is still up in the air, Biden seems committed to try and fulfill his promises to the American people.
Additionally, Biden hopes to shift America’s current trajectory on legal immigration, providing better opportunities for those who want to immigrate to the U.S. for work or higher education. On his website, Biden calls for increasing the number of visas for “permanent employee-based immigration.” One impactful way that this could be achieved would be to counteract the Trump administration’s restrictive policies on H-1B visas. H-1B visas are usually the way that highly educated foreign nationals and international students become employment-based immigrants and then American citizens. Asian Americans are the highest recipients of these visas with Indians holding 73.9% of all H-1B visas in the U.S. as of 2017 and other Asiatic countries following close behind. Accepting more applicants for H-1B visas is only one sector of immigration that Biden’s administration could tackle as the Trump administration has also negatively affected many other student visa processes. Per President Trump’s call for “heightened screening and vetting of applications for visas and other immigration benefits” in 2017, recent graduates with student visas are having to overcome unprecedented hurdles as they try to continue living in the country legally. There has been a substantial increase in student application fees and in the number of ways to penalize students who violate the conditions of their visas (even if the mistake was unintentional). There has also been harsher scrutiny over permit programs that allow graduate students to work in the U.S. after they have completed their studies. If the students cannot find employment within a certain timeframe, they must leave the U.S. and their life here behind. If Biden’s claims of accepting more visa applicants come true, many more hard-working individuals will be able to enter the U.S. and contribute to our nation.
Immigration has always been an important issue to the AAPI community, and it will continue to be in the future. Hopefully, President Biden can rise to the occasion and help reform immigration systems in the U.S. and regain the trust of millions of AAPIs in America; however, his promises should not be taken for granted. Though President Biden has promised to repeal many core policies of Trump’s administration, he has not yet committed to rescinding some of Trump’s more restrictive immigration policies like the recent visa restrictions that are set to come into fruition during Biden’s term. Almost a month before President Biden’s inauguration, President Trump issued a proclamation that prohibits issuing certain visas to those abroad who want to permanently move to the U.S. via green card petitions filed by their prospective employers or family members already residing in the U.S. , and it also halts several vital temporary work programs. This leaves a lot of AAPIs stuck in limbo as they are not sure if they will be given the legal status necessary to enter the country. When hearing President Biden’s claims to “restore the soul of our nation,” it is easy to get lost in his inspiring words, but it is important to remember for the millions worrying about their immigration status around our country that we must pressure our elected officials, ensuring that immigration will remain a top priority for the Biden administration going forward.
The Young Politicasian is a project of the High School Democrats of America Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus. Follow us on Instagram @hsda_aapi, join the caucus, and apply to be a staff writer. The opinions expressed in The Young Politicasian do not necessarily reflect those of the AAPI Caucus or the High School Democrats of America.
