On his first day in office, President Biden issued a number of orders, proclamations, and directives that reversed policies enacted by the Trump administration and sought to put the US immigration system on a far different course. These executive actions:
- Ended the discriminatory travel bans;
- Revised US immigration enforcement priorities
- Protected Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients;
- Temporarily halted construction of the US-Mexico Border Wall;
- Ensured that all US-residents, including undocumented immigrants, are counted in the 2020 Census; and
- Reinstated Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians.
President Biden also sent the US Citizenship Act of 2021 to Congress. If passed by the Senate and House, this bill would represent the most sweeping immigration reform legislation in decades and lead to the largest legalization program in US history.
President Biden has since issued several additional Executive Orders (EOs), which:
- Created a task force to reunify separated migrant families;
- Require federal agencies to review the Trump administration’s actions related to immigration;
- Provide for safe and orderly processing of asylum applications at the border;
- Call for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State (DOS) to rebuild and strengthen the US Refugee Admissions Program.
Biden’s administrative actions will reshape the US immigration system and federal agencies after four years of aggressive actions to restrict immigration.
For analysis of each executive order, directive, and proclamation, please visit: cmsny.org/biden-immigration-executive-actions/ |
