There’s No Excuse for Joe Biden Not to Make Immigration Policy More Humane
As president, Joe Biden hasn’t done nearly as much as he could to help immigrants — and there's plenty that he can do even without congressional approval.
Some fixes to our immigration system will require legislation, but the executive branch can make many changes unilaterally. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)
In the last few weeks, the Biden administration seems to have taken progressive criticism on its immigration missteps to heart. Reversing course after months of foot-dragging, Joe Biden announced he would make good on his promise to raise the refugee cap to 62,500 for the rest of this fiscal year and ended contracts for border wall construction.
Leftists should celebrate these major victories for human decency. But we also shouldn’t lose sight of the many issues left in our immigration system that have major, and, in some cases, deadly, consequences for thousands. And unlike legislative changes, which depend on the approval (or, at least, begrudging acceptance) of moderate Democrats, many of Biden’s choices on immigration are entirely up to him and his executive appointees.
The Good
So far, the Biden administration has made notable strides toward reshaping our immigration system after four years of Trump. In his first three months in office, Biden ended the “remain in Mexico” policy, jettisoned Trump’s wealth test for immigrants, reversed Trump-era restrictions on eligible asylum claims that discriminated against LGBTQ asylees and victims of gang and domestic violence, and halted construction of the border wall. Further, he reestablished the Central American Minors program that allows certain at-risk Central American youths to live in the United States, rescinded the “zero tolerance” policy that was responsible for family separation at the border, and ended the racist Muslim and African travel bans.
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