By Sofia Guimaraes (PO ’24)
A few weeks ago, pictures of Haitian migrants being aggressively detained at the Mexico-U.S. border shocked the public and brought attention to Joe Biden’s immigration policies. Even though Biden ran his campaign on the promise of reforming the Trump administration’s immigration policy and made changes to the system in his first months of presidency, his efforts failed to control the unprecedented inflow of immigrants. It seems that the president is relying on the remains of the past administration’s policies to monitor the situation while publicly affirming his plan to rebuild a more humane immigration system. His strategy to roll back Trump’s immigration policies while simultaneously holding on to part of them portrays him as uncertain regarding the issue, which is dangerous considering how partisan immigration has become after the Trump years. With political polarization as intense as it has ever been, Biden must clearly stand contrary to his opponent in order to maintain his Democratic support base.
In his first days in office, President Joe Biden acted on the vow he made in his final presidential debate to make immigration more humane and just, a move that for many Democrats marked the clear end of the Trump era. Six of the President’s 17 executive orders signed hours after his inauguration dealt with dismantling Trump’s immigration policies, among them orders to revoke the travel ban on certain Muslim and African countries, halt the construction of the border wall, as well as ensure measures to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). He then ordered a major increase in refugee admissions, reunified families separated by Trump’s zero tolerance policy, and ended the “remain in Mexico” program through the Citizenship Act Bill. It would appear that Biden’s first actions as president were aimed at tearing down former president Trump’s immigration approach to affirm to fellow Democrats his credibility as an agent for change, and his attitude rapidly spurred optimism among immigration activists who claimed the bill to be one of the boldest on immigration to date.
However, despite the optimism of the first few weeks of office, it seems that reality caught up with the policies when over 15,000 Haitian migrants were found camping in Del Rio, Texas seeking asylum only to be denied entrance by Border Patrol under Title 42. The policy was issued by the Trump administration as a public health order that allows the government to skirt rights typically granted to asylum seekers by expelling them, and despite its pro-immigration and anti-Trump stances, the Biden administration still refuses to drop the policy. What, then, was the point of reversing many of the hardline anti-immigration policies of his predecessor on a promise for a more “humane” treatment of immigrants, given that thousands are having their hopes for shelter shattered and being forced back to a crumbling Haiti? The clear inconsistency between Biden’s promises and his actions towards incoming Haitians reveals a hypocrisy that suggests the administration acted abruptly in January in order to portray president Biden as a saviour rather than an executor.
It can be argued that what led Biden to act rather impulsively was the fact that the issue of immigration became incredibly politicized and partisan during the Trump administration, becoming one of the defining factors of the era. As a result, immigration had to be a priority for Biden. With polarization as intense as it has ever been, Democrats tend to negatively associate immigration restrictions and strict border control with President Trump, and rightfully so: the former president prided himself in his “build the wall” and “ban Muslims” plan by constantly exacerbating the themes in his social media. Therefore, Biden’s plans to reverse Trump’s immigration policies were motivated by a desire to draw a clear distinction between himself and his predecessor, in order to secure Democratic support. However, the way the president is acting now is not the right path to rebuild the system. Currently, his initial efforts to reverse the policies are going to waste on the fact that hopeful Haitians are being denied entrance to the United States on the grounds of a policy enacted by Trump.
It is fair to conclude, therefore, that President Biden has to take a clear stand on his position regarding immigration, as it is not acceptable to condemn some forms of cruelty, such as Trump’s policies that he did reform, and ignore others, like the treatment of Haitians under Title 42. Furthermore, the partisanship surrounding immigration presents higher stakes for Biden in the way he acts regarding immigration, as even minimally aligning himself with his predecessor’s policies can spur mass discontent among his supporters, who bought into his promises for a more humane system. Ironically, the Biden administration seemed to be taking another step back with immigration policy when it announced a plan to reinstate Trump’s “Remain In Mexico” policy in November. In January, Biden dropped the policy, arguing that it created an inhumane environment at the border by subjecting immigrants to rape, assault, and violence while waiting for asylum hearings. Once again, our country distances itself from what our very own Statue of Liberty says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,” and brings us to question, how much longer will this injustice last?
