By Andrea López-Cruzado
While they wait for Joe Biden to pronounce on what his first actions will be in the immigration field, advocacy groups for Latinos and immigrants say they will remain vigilant to make sure the president-elect keeps his promises.
Above all, a solution that offers citizenship to millions of undocumented people and a moratorium on deportations.
It's a promise Biden made several times during his campaign, including in an interview he gave to Noticias Telemundo in September.
"There will be no deportations in the first 100 days" of my Administration
, assured the then presidential candidate.
For Jacinta González, Mijente's campaign manager, this offer must materialize to give the immigrant population peace of mind and security.
Adelina Nicholls, executive director of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR), agrees on this point and hopes for expedited action by the Biden government.
[These are the immigration promises of Joe Biden, the new president-elect]
"We hope he does it the first day," he told Noticias Telemundo.
It would be "the gesture that there is really interest in immigration problems."
For his part, González also hopes that the next administration will redirect funds from the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE, for its acronym in English) that today are invested in operations to persecute immigrants to their education and health.
"That (Biden) change Trump's practices, but not stop there, that also improve the lives of immigrants," he said.
He also believes that Biden should use "all his power to decrease the decriminalization of our communities", ending programs such as 287g and Secure Communities.
"They have a great challenge ahead," says González.
Pressure to seek the legalization of millions of undocumented immigrants
On November 12, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) sent a letter to Biden asking for a meeting.
"We look forward to working with you and your government to address critical issues that affect Hispanics," wrote the group led by Joaquin Castro, a congressman for the state of Texas.
Although they have not yet announced a date for the requested meeting, the CHC is confident that the Biden Administration will deliver on its promises, including reuniting all the families that were separated at the border under the Donald Trump administration on US soil and allowing them to migrant families stranded in Mexico can cross the border to exercise their right to request asylum.
Other actions Biden has offered to take during his first 100 days in the White House are the restoration of the DACA program and an immediate review of TPS.
However, aware that Biden will not only be able to make changes with executive orders, the CHC hopes that Congress will do its part.
"Congress must prioritize
a permanent legislative solution to achieve the right to citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants who already live among us and are our neighbors, friends, and family
," Castro said in an email to Noticias Telemundo.
"The Latino and immigrant community has been seriously impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, and our job in Congress is to fight for them until they have all the protections and opportunities that have been extended to others," he said.
These are the expectations of immigrants before the possibility of a new Administration
Nov. 7, 202002: 19
Days ago, the organization RAICES, which advocates for the rights of immigrants and refugees, issued a statement in which it reminded Biden of the record of deportations of the Obama administration, of which he was part.
“We know that the Obama administration was not friendly to immigrants either.
President Obama deported 3 million people and in many ways created the immigration infrastructure that was used and exploited by President Trump, ”the organization wrote.
“The new president must immediately commit to the complete overhaul of an immigration system that allowed a racist president to weaponize it like never before.
Finally, the Biden administration must act to offer a path to citizenship to the 11 million undocumented people living in this country today, ”RAICES added.
A similar position was expressed on Twitter by the acting executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, Murad Awawdeh.
"We need a moratorium on deportations / and their application, rescue of # COVID19 for all, legalization and citizenship. This is the moment," Awawdeh wrote on November 19.
The priorities
On their transition website, the incoming president and vice president have identified four challenges that they say they will face on the first day of their administration.
The priorities are COVID-19, economic recovery, racial equity, and climate change.
Immigration is not on the list.
We asked the Biden and Harris transition team if they were staying committed to the promises made, and a spokesperson answered this:
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the support of the majority of the American people in this year's election, and they have a mandate to follow the policy platform on which they ran, including their plans to rebuild better in the wake of COVID- 19.
The Biden-Harris transition is working to build a Government and a course of action to implement these plans, and we will have more to say in the coming weeks and months on these issues. "
We will have to wait if among what they will share "in the coming weeks and months" they ratify their promises to immigrants, including the nearly 11 million undocumented persons who
await the support of the new Government to open a path to their legalization.
However, the fact that immigration is not one of the first four priorities established by Biden and Harris does not mean that the next Administration will not address the issues that most concern immigrants or Latinos in general.
The majority of registered Hispanic voters surveyed in the middle of the year by the Pew Research Center indicated that their priorities were the same as the rest of the population: economy, health, COVID-19 and racial and ethnic equity, precisely the first four objectives identified by Biden and Harris.
[The White House prevented families separated at the border from receiving psychological help]
About eight in 10 Latino registered voters said the economy was "very important" to their vote, along with the rest of the population.
But on the issues of health, coronavirus and racial equity, a greater number of Latino voters identified these issues as priorities.
This is understandable when you take into account that one in five Latinos does not have health insurance and that the Hispanic population has been disproportionately hit by the coronavirus.
And the immigration issue?
Out of 13 issues proposed by the Pew poll, immigration ranked eighth in priority for Latino voters, who this year represented the second largest electoral group with about a record 32 million voters.
Only 59% of those surveyed by Pew identified the immigration issue as "very important" for their vote in the presidential election, behind climate change, Supreme Court appointments and violent crimes.
It should be noted that among the registered Latino voters are not migrants seeking asylum in the United States, the nearly 644,000 young people under the DACA program, or the 11 million undocumented who hope Biden will remember them in his first 100 days in power.
Groups like Mijente, RAICES and GLAHR will be reminding Biden of his promises.
"We will have to be present to ensure that campaign promises are translated into action
,
"
said GLAHR's Nicholls.
Jacinta González, of Mijente, believes that the changes that the Biden-Harris Administration can achieve in the immigration field will depend in large part on who assumes the direction of the Department of Homeland Security.
"We cannot think that because there is someone new in the White House everything is going to magically change," he said.
"We are motivated, but the fight does not end here."