The president, Joe Biden, presented this Wednesday - within hours of being sworn in - a series of measures to transform the immigration system, among them an ambitious immigration reform project that would create an eight-year path for citizenship and a moratorium on the 100-day deportations.
The bill, called the
US Citizenship Act of 2021
, would
represent the most important immigration change since 1986
, but it is not the only measure that Biden has promoted in this area.
He also issued executive orders and memoranda to end some of the Trump Administration's most controversial immigration initiatives.
Deported parents hope President Joe Biden will keep his promise and reunite them with their children
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Biden's decrees suspend the 'Stay in Mexico' program, continue the protection of Dreamers covered by DACA, end the migratory veto towards Muslim-majority countries and return to include the undocumented in the Census, among other measures.
In addition, the president proposes to strengthen border security with new technologies and ends the emergency declaration that Trump used to divert resources to build a border wall with Mexico, ending one of the former president's flagship projects.
[A path to citizenship for the undocumented: this is Joe Biden's immigration plan]
Something that even provoked the reaction of the Government of Mexico.
In a tweet on Wednesday night,
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard congratulated the Biden government
for the measures in favor of migrants.
Deportations are deferred for 100 days
Acting Homeland Security Secretary David Pekoske released a memorandum Wednesday night stating the deportation of some immigrants in the country for 100 days starting January 22, 2020.
The authorities explained that the measure will give them time to ensure that there is a "fair and effective enforcement system for immigration laws," according to the document.
A Guatemalan migrant deported from the United States arrives in Guatemala City on January 6, 2020. AFP via Getty Images / AFP via Getty Images
The end of a controversial program that kept asylum seekers in dangerous border cities
The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it will stop sending asylum seekers who arrive at the border to wait for their hearings in Mexico, announcing the end of one of the Trump Administration's most controversial policies.
As of Thursday, the new Administration will stop enlisting new individuals in the program.
Under the Migrant Protection Protocols, hundreds of migrants, mostly Central Americans, were victims of kidnapping, rape, sexual abuse, extortion, and other acts of violence by organized crime in Mexico's border cities.
However, the authorities of the new Administration have asked the migrants who are currently waiting for their asylum cases in Mexico,
to remain in place and await further instructions
.
But they warned that the border will continue to be affected by restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.
['Stay in Mexico': a year of chaos, improvisation and despair for Central American migrants]
Who benefits from the proposal to open a path to citizenship?
The bill offers a path to citizenship for about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.
In the eight-year plan, immigrants would enter a temporary protected status in the first five years that would later allow them to apply for a permanent residence card, as
long as they meet certain requirements such as having paid taxes and not having a criminal record
.
Finally, after three more years (in the eighth year), they would be able to apply for citizenship.
[Biden reiterates his promise to fight for a "just and humane" immigration system]
To avoid a disproportionate flow across the borders, the legislation would only consider undocumented immigrants who were in the United States
before January 1.
More work visas and fewer obstacles to asylum
The bill includes an increase in the diversity visa lottery, an immigration opportunity based on luck for people from countries from which not as many people immigrate to the United States (less than 50,000 in the last five years, so citizens countries like Mexico are excluded).
The number of these types of visas would go
from 55,000 people to 80,000
.
Discrimination on religious grounds would also be prohibited.
Although the bill's summary released Wednesday does not establish a specific number of refugees that would be allowed into the country annually, Biden promised they
would rise from the 15,000 that Trump limited to about 125,000
.
The law would also provide funds for the integration of refugees, including English classes.
What will happen to the deportations and asylum petitions under Joe Biden's administration?
Jan. 20, 202103: 51
Address the causes
The bill also offers development assistance to Central America, reduces the backlog of 1.2 million cases in immigration courts and provides more visas for underrepresented countries and victims of crime.
Regarding Central America, Biden proposes to allocate
4,000 million dollars in development aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras
, which would be used to combat corruption, violence and poverty.
The proposal would also allow family members eligible for residency to wait in the United States for green cards, granting temporary status until their petitions are processed, a population that Kerri Talbot of the advocacy group Immigration Hub estimates at 4 million. .
[Mexico never paid for the border wall. But what about the rest of Trump's promises?]
How long could it take?
It is unclear how quickly the measures he has promised could be implemented.
Priority issues, such as the health and economic crises, as well as the difficulty in reversing the strict policies implemented by Trump, could delay the changes he raises.
Migrants from countries including Venezuela, Honduras, Cuba, and Nicaragua line up to receive food next to the bridge that crosses from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, to Brownsville, Texas, on the Mexican side of the border;
on June 26, 2019. AP
Something similar happened with President Barack Obama, who did not present his promised immigration reform until the second term.
Past efforts to reform immigration policy failed in 2007 and 2013.
Biden's nominee for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stressed in his first Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday that reversing Trump's policies would not be as simple as "flipping a switch."
According to Domingo García, former president of the League of Latin American Citizens, Biden said in a phone call with several activists before his inauguration that Trump's impeachment in the Senate could delay the discussion of immigration reform
beyond the first 100 days
of the new Administration.
[Trump tries to stop Biden's immigration reform with a dangerous last-minute political trip]
Some analysts believe that the best strategy would be to
pass small pieces of legislation
that will serve as the basis for a larger legislative project.
In fact, Biden's team announced Wednesday that they will present more actions on immigration on January 29.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's National Security adviser, said the president's actions "would immediately reverse elements of Trump's policies that were deeply inhumane and did not reflect the values of our country."