President-elect Biden’s plan for immigration reform in the U.S.
The incoming Biden administration has many new plans for increased benefits and improvements to the U.S. immigration system.
In his first 100 days Biden plans to:
Update the immigration system
Reaffirm the country’s commitment to refugees and asylum-seekers
and welcome foreign nationals into U.S. communities
Biden will put back in place several critical immigration programs from the Obama administration, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA)
DACA was established in 2012 under President Obama. It creates protections for undocumented minors who were brought to the U.S. illegally at a young age. DACA allows non-U.S. citizens to live and work in the U.S. without the risk of deportation. To date, DACA has protected over 800,000 individuals from deportation. Despite it’s sucess, it has come under atttack by the Trump administration. But, on November 14, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York invalidated the agency’s position to refuse DACA applications. DHS must now accept new and renewal DACA applications and issue two-year renewals for DACA beneficiaries instead of Trump’s allowance of only one year renewal and no first time applications. The agency must also issue advance parole travel documents.
DAPA, a plan created in 2014 by President Obama, intends to help foreign nationals avoid immediate deportation and apply for residency by allowing qualifying undocumented foreign nationals to legally remain in the U.S. for a set period of time. Once implemented, it would protect approximately 3.6 million unauthorized foreign nationals from deportation and provide a pathway to legal employment. Through DAPA, parents of U.S. lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens would potentially qualify for three years of deferred action. The plan never came to fruition, but this too may change under Biden.