22 MARCH 2021

61 Days Unwinding 1461 Days of Trump Damage to Immigration System

Biden Administration wasted no time making major improvements

WASHINGTON— Sunday was Biden’s 60th day in office. Let’s not forget where we started just 61 days ago. Post-Trump, the Biden administration has tackled the pandemic by vaccinating millions and passing the ARP to fund schools and small businesses to reopen while tackling the mess left behind at the border. 

Over the prior four years (or 1,461days… 1,400 more than Biden has been in office), the Trump administration made more than 1,000 policy changes to the immigration system, including policies to forcibly remove children from their families, waste millions on an ineffective wall, gut our asylum laws, and ban people on the basis of race or religion. So much damage was done to America’s immigration system that it will take a massive effort to unwind his failed and cruel policies. 

The Biden-Harris Administration wasted no time. In just two months - 60 days, they made the following changes: 

  1. Put a stop to the inhumane and cruel policy of family separation. Trump took more than 5,500 children away from their parents. Biden put a stop to this and is working to reunite remaining separated children. These are children escaping violence and America will not turn our back on them, both out of our shared humanity and as we are legally required to do based on a Bush-era law. The Biden-Harris Administration is also working to improve conditions and manage the border. They are working to remove these children from DHS and move them into HHS facilities before placing them with vetted family members or sponsors as quickly as possible.

  2. Ended the thoughtless 'Remain In Mexico' policy which put asylum seekers in tent cities and failed to process applications. The Biden-Harris Administration is managing the 25,000 asylum cases Trump left for this Administration. These are not new asylum seekers, but those Trump decided -- fueled by politics and a lack of humanity -- to just let Joe Biden handle. The Biden-Harris administration ended this policy and has begun actually doing the work of processing these legal applications. And, the administration is working on technical solutions so those who seek asylum can do so from their home country, rather than in-person at the border.

  3. Stopped wasting our national emergency funds to build Trump’s vanity wall. When Trump’s widely unpopular border wall couldn’t get funded, he circumvented Congress and diverted critical military and emergency funds to build his vanity wall. Biden put an end to this and paused construction. 

  4. Focused on the root problem, not Band-Aids. The Biden-Harris Administration has a comprehensive plan that includes working together with NGOs and partners in the region to address root causes of migration.

  5. Once again count undocumented immigrants in our census, so communities are appropriately and fairly resourced and represented. The way communities are allocated resources is based on an accurate accounting of who lives there every ten years, and Trump last July demanded undocumented immigrants be excluded, effectively shortchanging communities. Biden reversed this short-sighted policy to ensure all residents are taken into account for fair public resources and representation in Congress. 

One more for good measure: Biden ended Trump’s racist and xenophobic Muslim Ban. Do we have to say more? 

The Biden-Harris Administration is meeting a dual challenge. This Administration has taken swift and impactful action to begin to undo the damage Trump’s administration inflicted. All while proposing comprehensive, just and humane reforms -- like those passed recently in the House to provide pathways to citizenship for farm workers and Dreamers -- which will create an immigration system that reflects our values. 

Biden was left with a dual challenge -- repair and rebuild the damage of the 1461 days before. And in just 61 days, he’s already tackled so much and is not stopping now.
 

###
 The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.