When Democratic candidate Joe Biden was gunning for the US presidency, he promised voters that he would do some major reform at the US borders and with immigration rules, claiming he would “take urgent action” to abolish what President Donald Trump had done when he was the one sitting in the Oval Office.
After being elected 46th President of the United States, Biden has made sure to put together a task force to focus precisely on border issues, especially when it comes to reuniting migrant children separated from their families. He has also stopped the border wall construction momentarily while asking his team to review all of the legal immigration programs that were stopped during the Trump administration.
There has also been an unprecedented number of immigrants at the US southern border since President Biden took office, many of which are unaccompanied children that are currently being detained in US immigration detention facilities. This could very well be the reason that more migrants are attempting to enter the United States given the changes made to US immigration policies and laws.
When discussing how Biden has done things differently from Trump, take a look at the list below.
Their Cap on Refugees
When Biden first announced his cap on immigrants, he had set the number at 15,000 for the year 2021. When Trump was president, the cap was the same, which is why Biden supporters were utterly surprised that Biden didn’t make any substantial changes.
After Biden received intense backlash over his decision, he then raised that number from 15,000 to 62,500. He also promised that by 2022, that number will increase to at least 125,000. Back when Barrack Obama was president, his cap had been around 110,000 of refugees that had been admitted into the country during his first term as #44.
Their Rules on Separating Families
Back in April, there were more than 178,000 families arrested, the most ever recorded in history, as they crossed the border into the United States. Astonishingly, there were around 16,933 children that were left unaccompanied by a legal guardian, yet according to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, these numbers were actually less than they were in March.
It was back in May of 2019 during Trump’s presidency when the US recorded another record high of 11,000 unaccompanied minors. The large amount became too much for immigration to handle, which is how thousands of kids were put in detention facilities that were really meant for adults. While government critics claim that this hardly differed from Trump’s time in office, the difference is in the actual time that children are held in the facilities, which is reportedly much shorter than during the time of Trump.
The CBP shared that the amount of kids held had dropped by a massive 88% by early May when a number of kids were sent for temporary resettlement by the Department of Health and Human Services until they were to be seen in court for their immigration cases.
While Trump had a “zero tolerance” policy when it came to children and their legal guardians being separated at the border, to the point of parents being sent back home without their children, Biden has not been as strict with such regulations. While Biden has made a reversal in the policy, it doesn’t mean that all children were reunited with their families either. But Biden’s established taskforce were told to help these families in early May, yet the number of separated families still sits at around 1,000.
Their Policy ‘Wait in Mexico’
Historically, on Biden’s very first day as president of the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suspended one of Trump’s more controversial policies that was to make all asylum seekers to ‘Wait in Mexico’ as they waited for their US immigration hearings.
Since being introduced in January of 2019, there were a recorded 70,000 migrants that were registered in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which was commonly known as the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program.
By February, the new administration finally started to process the various applications, allowing them to come into the country as their cases were being heard in court. Despite allowing thousands of migrants into the country, the Biden administration still warns about entering the country without proper documentation and paperwork since the government Is trying to rebuild the torn apart asylum systems that Trump took down.
Their Rules on the Protections for Dreamers
One of the biggest policies that Biden has taken on is its attempt to renovate the current legal immigration system in the country. What he’s proposing for the 11 million undocumented illegal immigrants in the country is an 8-year process that will eventually allow them to gain citizenship.
As for minors, he bids to push for legislation on giving permanent protection for young migrants that are in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, or the children that are otherwise known to the world as the “Dreamers.”
During Trump’s time in office, he had attempted to lessen the number of immigrants coming into the country, seeking to end the DACA program on the grounds that it was unconstitutional, but he didn’t succeed. Biden, on the other hand, who has a more pro-immigration policy that favors family-based and employment-based legal immigration, is still having issues from a number of people in Congress, more so the more conservative Democrats as well as some Republicans.
Their Border Wall Policies
While Trump was busy planning and building the border wall that would separate the United States from Mexico, Biden on the other hand vowed to not build “another foot” when he came into office. On his very first day in office, he did exactly as he promised, as well as end the ‘national emergency declaration on the southern border.’
Biden also asked for the military funding that Trump had used in order to pay for the wall to be allotted elsewhere, but this led to an inquiry from Republicans that claimed that the new president had ‘inappropriately re-directed congressionally approved funds.’
Meanwhile, despite the halt in border wall construction, the land owners are still dealing with the government’s attempts to take their land in what they call “eminent domain.” Now, there are tons of cases opened by the federal government which will reportedly take years to close. What has since been left behind on the border walls are unfinished walls and tons of building materials left all over, alongside the unknowing of what the future holds for any of it.
Their Laws On How Migrants Enter the United States
There are two ways that migrants successfully enter the country. One way allows those that “have suffered persecution or fear that they will suffer persecution” in their own countries to seek asylum if they show themselves at port of entry to get legal entry into the country. The other way is attempting to evade immigration border patrol and inspectors by hiding in cars that cross the border, or finding other ways to enter undetected, which is via the US-Mexican border which are normally quite dangerous.
Although, the Pew Research Center shares that around 40% of illegal migrants are those that come into the country on legal short-term visas, and choose to overstay their allowed time and not leave.
Considering the differences in Biden’s administration as compared to Trump’s, what are their similar policies when it comes to the border? It would seem that there are just a couple.
Their Anti-Covid Measures
When it comes to Covid and the measures put in place by the government, the Biden administration hasn’t changed too much of Trump’s policies. What these measures allow is for US authorities to bypass their usual immigration laws and other protections and automatically expel most of the undocumented migrants that are attempting to gain entry into the country.
One major difference is that President Biden will not refuse entry to unaccompanied minors or teenagers, unlike Trump. But the new administration has continued to defend whatever policies Trump put in place in court despite civil rights groups trying to sue for the country to continue processing asylum system claims.
Their Insistence That Migrants Stay Home
Although it’s easy to note that Biden does not agree with Trump on a number of policies, like Trump, Biden has also insisted that migrants should not try to cross the borders to enter the United States. During a March interview with ABC News, President Biden said, “I can say quite clearly: don’t come over. We’re in the process of getting set up, don’t leave your town or city or community.” But in the end, the numbers will show how many migrants will actually listen.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
True Activist / Report a typo
