What is President Biden's Approach to Immigration?

 

Official White House photo

What is the President Biden's approach to immigration and immigration enforcement?  That question is particularly relevant given the recent response to Haitian migrants on the southern border.  The administration's response follows a history of harsh measures directed at Haitian migrants.  And it appears to have caused quite a rift in the administration (here and here).

Hamed Aleaziz for Buzzfeed poses the question as follows:

"What exactly is the country’s direction on immigration policy under Biden?

The Biden administration has undone several initiatives enacted under Trump, notably the entry ban for people from several majority-Muslim nations. It has also pursued aspects of the progressive agenda it promised by limiting arrests by deportation officers, largely ceasing detention of families, and reuniting many parents and children separated by the Trump administration.

. . . . Moreover, the administration has in recent weeks backed a congressional effort to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants living in the US.

But when faced with issues at the border — such as an increased flow of families and single adults beginning this spring or the recent crowd of thousands of Haitians under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas — Biden has turned to an approach favored by many leaders before him, including Trump: deterrence.

The administration has relied on a Trump-era order to conduct more than 700,000 expulsions since February that have severed immigrants from asylum protections, successfully convinced Mexico to ramp up enforcement within its own borders, and restarted another enforcement program to conduct quick deportations of families at the border." (bold added).

Only time will tell where the Biden administration goes on Immigration.

KJ