President Joe Biden signed on Tuesday three implementing orders on immigration that include measures to identify and reunite separated families at the border, review the ‘Stay in Mexico’ program for asylum seekers and consider changes to the prosecution rule that will affect green cards.
They are all immigration policy drawn up by the administration of the previous president, Donald Trump. President Biden’s strategy is based on the premise that our country is safer, stronger and more prosperous ‘with an immigration system’ that welcomes immigrants, keeps families together and enables newcomers and those who have lived here for generations to make a greater contribution [al desarrollo de] our country, ”senior government officials said announcing the measures.
[Pausa en las deportaciones por 100 días y un camino a la ciudadanía en 8 años: Biden inicia su Gobierno con planes para grandes cambios migratorios]
Meanwhile, on another aspect that worries many immigrants most – the danger of deportation – Biden’s promise to act immediately to provide assistance to those affected has not yet been reflected in effective changes.
The president ordered many deportations to be stopped for 100 days, but a federal judge temporarily blocked his directive because he claimed the action had been taken in an irregular manner after Texas filed a lawsuit against it.
[Sobrevivió al tiroteo de El Paso y testificó contra el asesino. Pero esta semana fue deportada a México]
In the first 13 days of Biden’s tenure, hundreds of immigrants were deported to different countriesincluding a witness to the massacre of Latinos in El Paso, Texas. It is not clear how many of them were considered dangerous subjects or had just arrived in the United States, two aspects considered a priority by the new administration.
Legal experts assure that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE, for its acronym in English), has the authority not to carry out deportations outside the federal judge’s order, according to The Associated Press news agency.
Among the measures the president plans to take this Tuesday is the creation of a working group dedicated to identifying and reuniting migrant children separated from their parents at the border under the Trump administration, senior officials said. the current government, who have defined this. policy “a moral failure and a national disgrace“.
“No one really knows” how many there are at the moment, although it is estimated there may be “up to 1,000,” these sources added. Asked if divorced family members now plan to return outside of the United States, officials said the task force will make recommendations on how to treat these cases individually.
[‘Quédate en México’: un año de caos, improvisación y desesperanza para migrantes centroamericanos]
Another of the executive orders Biden issued for this Tuesday instructs the Department of Homeland Security to review the policy known as Stay in Mexico – officially, Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) – implemented by Trump to force asylum seekers on the southern border to wait for the resolution of their cases on the Mexican side, killing tens of thousands of people stranded for months in dangerous border towns of the neighboring country.
Biden had already suspended the program so that no new things are included. However, its officials They have not clarified what will happen to the people currently in Mexico, claiming that “the situation at the border will not change overnight” but that alternatives are being worked on.
In addition, the same executive order calls for the need to assist migrants’ countries of origin to combat the problems prompting them to emigrate and to work with governments and NGOs to “improve their ability to accept migrants” .
In a third executive order, Biden will ask review measures imposed by Trump that made it difficult for undocumented migrants to access legal status, such as getting green cards and naturalization.
Actions are foreseen to this end, such as changing the public charging rule preventing access to permanent residence for beneficiaries of certain state aid, lowering the fees for applying for citizenship, reinstating exemptions for this and reducing the administrative workload if due to the accumulation of requests.
Mayorkas confirmed as Secretary of Homeland Security
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary of National Security, who will become the first Latino to hold that position, who, in addition to coordinating much of immigration policy, will also play a prominent role in the government’s response to the pandemic. of the coronavirus. , a widespread cyber attack that has been linked to Russia and domestic extremism.
Mayorkas was confirmed by 56 votes to 43, the smallest margin to date for a candidate for the president’s cabinet, Joe Biden.
He is the first immigrant to hold the position and is expected to lead a broad policy review for an agency accused of being deeply politicized in carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration and law enforcement initiatives.
With information from NBC News and AP.