When President Biden announced his campaign pledge to support and welcome refugees, he pledged to help our nation in 2020. Earlier in his administration, he began taking steps in that direction.
On his , first day in company, Biden proclaimed an ending to his presidency’s” Muslim ban”, which quickly banned movement from some Muslim- bulk countries. And In February 2021, Biden , introduced an administrative order , aimed at reversing some of the Trump government’s harm to our immigration system, from household divorces to , bottlenecks in our prison system.
Biden said at the moment,” Securing our borders does not need us to reject the society of those who seek to mix them.” ” Nor is the United States safer when resources that should be devoted to attempts to stymie genuine asylum applicants are squandered on work that should be poured into policies targeting real challenges, such as drug cartel and human criminals, are squandered.”
Biden appeared to understand that being” tough” does not imply that you must support cruel and ineffective policies. Unfortunately, as immigration has become a more polarizing topic, the administration has backed away from this more humane approach.
Instead, in many ways Biden has actually , continued down Trump’s path , on immigration.
For instance, during the height of the COVID pandemic, the Trump administration put a rule called Title 42 into effect, which allegedly meant to protect public health. Biden , continued to implement that policy , for years, even without the flimsy public health justification.
Biden recently endorsed a bipartisan Senate border bill that includes funding for a border wall that he once promised but did n’t want to fund, as well as new asylum-granting measures and a bill that would grant the president the power to completely shut the border down. Biden is also , considering , using the same authority the Trump administration invoked in its Muslim ban to restrict asylum access.
A few weeks ago, Biden and Trump separately visited the U. S. Mexico border. Instead of proposing , actual solutions , to support our immigration system, Biden uplifted the failed , Senate bill , — and even went so far as to invite Trump to” join him” in working to it.
Biden had the opportunity to stand out from Trump during his State of the Union speech in March. His speech, however, showed a clear disconnect between his words and his actions.
Biden said he would not demonize immigrants, but in the same speech used the offensive term “illegal immigrant”. No human being is “illegal”. Continuing to echo that language is dehumanizing and puts immigrant communities , at risk of violence. ( Biden later said he , regretted , using the term, but , did not apologize , for using it. )
Biden said he would not separate families, but his current and proposed immigration policies , have separated and continue to separate families. He said he would not ban people from the country  , because , of their faith, but , his proposed action , would make asylum harder for nearly everyone , regardless , of their faith.
Biden has referred to the Great Famine in Ireland as a symbol for immigrants seeking a better life in the United States, invoking his Irish heritage. But families seeking shelter today from similar hardship would have  , extreme difficulty , getting into the country under the policies he wants to implement.
Once, Biden realized that punitive measures would not improve the safety of immigrants or American citizens or improve the orderly functioning of our immigration system. He understood that to uphold our obligation to provide refuge to asylum seekers, uphold our American values, and establish pathways to citizenship and citizenship.
If Biden’s sincere about finding real solutions, he needs to remember those commitments. It’s time to stop politicizing immigrants ‘ lives.
The Center for Law and Social Policy ( CLASP) has a senior policy analyst on immigration, Juan Carlos Gomez. org ). This op- ed was adapted from , a longer version at CLASP. org , and distributed for syndication by OtherWords. org.
