President Joseph R. Biden Jr. set forth an ambitious immigration agenda in the early days of the Biden-Harris administration, committing both to reverse harmful policies implemented by the Trump administration and to revitalize the US immigration system more broadly. In his first 100 days in office, President Biden articulated his immigration and refugee protection goals and reversed many of his predecessor’s policies in a series of executive actions. He also raised the refugee admissions cap for FY 2021 and endorsed the US Citizenship Act of 2021 , which would represent the most sweeping immigration reform legislation in decades and create the largest legalization program in US history. President Biden’s executive actions address the situation at the southern border, root causes of irregular migration from Central America, impacts of climate change on migration, COVID-19 travel restrictions, and fortification of existing legal immigration pathways, as well as commitments to create new ones.
This proclamation lifts certain restrictions on immigrant visas for nationals of Burma, Eritrea, Iran, Venezuela, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, and Yemen. US Embassies and Consulates in those countries can resume visa processing and must ensure that pending visa and waiver applications are not prejudiced by the previous bans.
From 2017-2020, former President Trump issued a series of travel bans preventing nationals of Muslim-majority and select African countries from entering the United States. President Biden rescinded the travel bans ( Executive Order 13780 , Proclamation 9645 , Proclamation 9723 , Proclamation 9983 ) effective immediately. In his proclamation, Biden characterized the travel bans as “a stain on our national conscience.”
The initial travel ban (Section 3 of the “ Executive Order 13769 ”) suspended the issuance of visas to nationals from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen for 90 days. The ban drew sharp criticism because it targeted Muslim-majority countries, and led to protests at airports across the country and legal challenges . In subsequent versions of the travel ban, the Trump administration added non-Muslim-majority countries and extended the timeframe for the ban. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ultimately upheld (in Trump v. Hawaii ) the third version of the travel ban, Presidential Proclamation 9645. The bans have halted the admissions of targeted groups and prevented families from reunifying or even from visiting one another. Muslim Americans and religious leaders of many faiths praised Biden for ending the ban.
This order revised immigration enforcement policies and priorities and rescinded the Trump administration Executive Order 13768 , which called for the prompt removal of all undocumented immigrants living in the United States and withdrew federal funding from so-called sanctuary states. Biden’s executive order directs relevant federal agencies to issue new guidance about immigration enforcement priorities.
Former administrations prioritized removal of immigrants convicted of serious crimes, those who threatened national security, and recent border entrants. A 2019 analysis from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University on Trump-era enforcement found that “despite rising numbers of individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), fewer and fewer individuals who have committed and been convicted of serious crimes are among them.” The Trump administration’s enforcement priorities were so broad that they effectively set no priorities at all.
They also came at an enormous cost to mixed-status families; i.e., those with undocumented and US citizen members. Using data from the Center for Migration Studies (CMS), a Marshall Project report estimated that 909,000 mixed-status families would face financial hardship and risk falling into poverty if their undocumented breadwinners were deported. The costs of deportation to families include financial hardship and the trauma of their separation and division.
In response to Biden’s Executive Order, Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary David Pekoske immediately issued a memorandum directing DHS agencies to review enforcement policies and provide recommendations for revised policies within 100 days. The memorandum ordered a 100-day pause on the removal of noncitizens, with exceptions for noncitizens who pose a danger to national security; who were not in the United States before November 1, 2020; who voluntarily waive any rights to remain in the United States; and who the acting ICE Director determines must leave the country. The memorandum also established the following enforcement priorities:
On January 26, 2021, Judge Drew Tipton of the US District Court of the Southern District of Texas granted a 14-day temporary restraining order blocking the 100-day pause on removals ordered in Pekoske’s memorandum. On February 23, 2021, Judge Tipton granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the government from implementing the 100-day pause. The ruling, however, does not block the administration’s enforcement priorities.
According to a Washington Post report , ICE deportations fell to a record low in April 2021. ICE deported 2,962 people in April, the lowest monthly total on record and a 20 percent decline from March. If ICE deportation numbers continue at this pace, it may deport fewer than 100,000 people in 2021, the lowest number since the agency’s founding in 2003.
This memorandum directs the DHS Secretary and Attorney General to take all actions necessary and consistent with applicable law to preserve and fortify the DACA program. DACA provides relief from deportation, work authorization, and advance parole for unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. Established in June 2012, the program has more than 600,000 active recipients who are “ deeply integrated in US communities and enjoy long standing connections to the United States, the country that most of them know as their only home. ”
The Trump administration took several actions to dismantle the DACA program. It first announced that it would end the program in September 2017, and DHS stopped processing new applications. In June 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled that the administration’s attempt to terminate the program was unlawful. However, instead of resuming the program, former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf issued a memorandum curtailing DACA and barring first-time applications. On November 14, 2020, a federal district court judge ruled that the memorandum was illegal because Wolf had been improperly appointed to his position and lacked the authority to issue the order. The judge ordered the administration to reinstate DACA in December 2020, after DHS did not take action to do so after his November ruling. The January 20, 2021 memorandum stated that: “DACA reflects a judgment that these immigrants should not be a priority for removal based on humanitarian concerns and other considerations, and that work authorization will enable them to support themselves and their families, and to contribute to our economy, while they remain.”
President Biden halted construction of the wall along the US-Mexico border and stated that funds for border wall construction would be reallocated following a review of construction contracts. In April 2021, the Department of Defense announced that it is coordinating with interagency partners to cancel border wall projects and contracts.
Throughout his presidency and the 2016 campaign, President Trump promised to build a wall spanning the US-Mexico border. He also promised that Mexico would pay for the wall. However, this did not occur, and work on the wall cost American taxpayers approximately $15 billion dollars . Moreover, a disagreement between Congress and the administration over funding for the wall triggered the longest government shutdown in US history .
In order to fund the wall without consent from Congress, Trump issued Proclamation 9844, “ Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States .” CMS raised questions about the need for a wall and the national security rationale for declaring an emergency. It found that the multiyear decline in US undocumented population had been driven by Mexican nationals returning to Mexico, and since 2010, about two-thirds of new arrivals into the US undocumented population had overstayed temporary visas, a practice the wall would do nothing to stop.
Border communities and environmentalists have called on Biden to take steps to remediate environmental and cultural destruction caused by construction of the wall. Hundreds of miles of borderlands, including sacred Native American sites and protected public lands, have been bulldozed, blasted, and parched over the past four years due to construction of the wall, with little environmental assessment or oversight . In April 2021, DHS announced plans for initial steps to correct the damage caused by wall construction. The agency will fix holes in the Rio Grande Valley Flood Barrier System and soil erosion over a 14-mile stretch of border wall in San Diego, California.
“Like every nation, the United States has a right and a duty to secure its borders and protect its people against threats,” Biden wrote in the proclamation. “But building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.”
President Biden reversed a Trump administration order issued in July 2020 that sought to exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2020 Census. Under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, the census counts the number of people in each state every 10 years. Between January 3 and January 10 following a census year, the president is required to submit a statement with census numbers to Congress, which Congress uses to apportion seats among the states for the House of Representatives.
Trump’s executive order stated his intentions to submit a reapportionment plan to Congress that would have excluded all undocumented immigrants in January 2021. Trump requested two sets of numbers: one set with the whole number of persons in each state and the other with the number of undocumented immigrants in each state, which would be subtracted from the whole number for the purposes of apportioning House seats by state. Experts say it is not possible to offer an accurate count in the way Trump requested.
The order seemed to be retaliatory towards sanctuary cities and states that disagreed with his immigration priorities. It provided that states adopting policies that encourage undocumented immigrants to enter the country and those that have a large population of undocumented immigrants should not be rewarded with greater representation in the House of Representatives.
In July 2020, 23 states, immigrant rights advocates, and other groups filed several lawsuits challenging Trump’s executive order in federal court, blocking the plan from going into effect. The Trump administration appealed those rulings to the US Supreme Court, which ruled in December 2020 that it was premature to consider the matter because states had not yet been injured. Biden’s executive order ensures that undocumented immigrants are included and states will not lose congressional representation or federal funding due to an incomplete census count.
President Biden reinstated Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians through June 30, 2022. The memorandum also restores DED for those who were previously protected before it expired on January 10, 2021. DED provides temporary protection against deportation and work authorization to nationals of designated countries authorized by the president at his discretion.
Certain Liberians were first offered Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the George H.W. Bush administration because of the Liberian Civil War. Subsequent administrations extended TPS or DED to Liberians due to ongoing violence and later the Ebola crisis. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 established the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) program. LRIF is the first US legalization program in many years. However, USCIS did not approve a single application in the first four months of the program, which was originally set to expire in December 2020. COVID-19 further slowed application processing. On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act , which extended the deadline to apply for LRIF relief to December 20, 2021. Biden’s memorandum extending DED provides Liberians with protection against deportation and work authorization as they apply for permanent residence.
The memorandum also directs the DHS Secretary to ensure ease of application and timely adjudication of applications for LRIF benefits. In order to qualify for the LRIF program, applicants must: (1) properly complete a Form I-485 Application; (2) be a national of Liberia; (3) have been continuously physically present in the United States during the period between November 20, 2014 and the date they file a Form I-485 Application; and (4) have not been convicted of an aggravated felony, two or more crimes involving moral turpitude, or persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. CMS has estimated that potentially 10,000 Liberians are eligible for LRIF relief.
On January 20, 2021, President Biden endorsed the US Citizenship Act of 2021 memorializing his commitment to modernize the US immigration system. On February 18, 2021, Senator Bob Menendez and Congresswoman Linda Sanchez introduced the bill . If passed by Congress, the bill would represent the most sweeping immigration reform package since 1990 and would create the largest legalization program in US history, including the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 . In particular, the Act would:
A more detailed overview of the US Citizenship Act is available here .
DHS announced that it was suspending the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), effective January 21, 2021. MPP, also known as the Remain in Mexico policy, was established by the Trump administration in January 2019. It allowed border officers to send non-Mexicans who sought asylum at the US southern border to Mexico to await their immigration hearings. Prior to the MPP, asylum seekers were able to wait for their hearings in the United States. Over 67,000 migrants have been subject to the program and many are still waiting for their hearings in camps along the southern border. Under the DHS announcement, no new individuals will be enrolled in the program.
On February 12, 2021, the Biden administration announced plans to allow tens of thousands of asylum seekers who were forced to remain in Mexico under MPP to enter the United States. The first wave of asylum-seekers with active cases under MPP were admitted to the United States on February 19, 2021. On March 3, 2021, DHS established a website to provide updates on the wind-down of the MPP program and DHS’s plan to admit individuals enrolled in MPP to complete their immigration proceedings. MPP enrollees can register online or over the phone to start the process, and DHS will confirm they have a pending immigration court case. After they test negative for COVID-19, enrollees are transported by facilitating organizations to the designated port of entry for processing into the United States. As of May 2021, 10,000 asylum seekers subject to the MPP program have been admitted to the United States.
On January 25, 2021, the Biden administration reinstated COVID-19 travel restrictions on most non-US citizen travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom, 26 European countries in the Schengen zone, and South Africa. These restrictions were issued in response to rising cases of COVID-19 globally, and recently discovered variant strains of the virus found in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil. Any foreign nationals who have been to these countries within 14 days of their scheduled travel to the United States will be denied entry. These travel restrictions will not apply to:
Hundreds of children are still separated from their families in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy. In April 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed US Attorney’s Offices along the southwest border to prosecute and detain every adult caught crossing the border illegally. Migrant children cannot be in US custody for more than 20 days, unless they are in licensed childcare facilities. In order to keep parents in detention centers indefinitely, the Trump administration separated children from their parents. Children were taken into custody by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The policy was roundly criticized as cruel and inhumane . Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, described the policy as “ government-sanctioned child abuse ” after visiting one the facilities housing separated children. A 2019 report from the HHS Inspector General found that “separated children exhibited more fear, feelings of abandonment, and post-traumatic stress than did children who were not separated,” and “some separated children expressed acute grief that caused them to cry inconsolably.” The report highlighted the challenges facing HHS staff and their inability to meet the mental health needs of children traumatized by family separation.
After months of protests , Trump issued Executive Order 13841 on June 20, 2018 to halt family separation. However, in practice, the policy continued covertly . Overall, more than 5,500 children were separated from their parents, and hundreds remain separated.
On January 26, 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) rescinded the “zero tolerance” policy. Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson issued a memorandum to federal prosecutors nationwide stating the DOJ would return to its longstanding policy of making individual assessments on whether to bring criminal charges against border crossers.
Biden’s February 2nd EO established a Family Reunification Task Force that will work to reunite families. The Task Force consists of department heads of the DHS, DOS, HHS, the Attorney General, and other officers from those agencies. The task force was tasked with:
The EO also revoked Executive Order 13481 and condemned “the human tragedy that occurred when our immigration laws were used to intentionally separate children from their parents or legal guardians (families).”
On May 3, 2021, the Biden administration announced that four migrant families who were separated under the prior administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy would be reunited. The four parents – who were deported without their children – were given humanitarian parole, allowing them to return to the United States. Another 30 deported migrant parents are expected to reunite with their children in the United States in May and June of 2021. The task force estimates that more than 1,000 families remain separated.
This order aims to improve the US immigration system, to ensure applications and petitions are adjudicated efficiently, and to develop strategies to promote integration, inclusion, and citizenship. The order:
The Trump administration took numerous steps to impede legal immigration. According to a 2019 report from CMS , immigrants advance in employment, income, and education as they graduate to permanent residence and citizenship. These advances, in turn, allow them to contribute more to their communities. Yet, a number of regulations and policies have made it more difficult for immigrants to become permanent residents and US citizens, including:
These and other policies caused a decline in legal immigration and had particularly negative consequences for the US citizen children of immigrants.
On February 2, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order outlining a multi-pronged approach to managing migration from Central and North America. Biden said his administration would work closely with civil society groups, international organizations, and governments in the region. The EO seeks to strengthen the asylum and refugee protection systems in North and Central American countries and to restore the US asylum system, particularly along the US-Mexico border.
The order directs an interagency team to prepare a “Root Causes Strategy” to address the underlying factors leading to migration and a “Collaboration Management Strategy” to enhance protection and create more legal migration avenues for those in need of protection. It also directs:
The executive order announces the administration’s intention to terminate Asylum Cooperative agreements between the United States and Northern Triangle countries. These agreements allow the United States to remove certain migrants seeking asylum at US borders to Northern Triangle countries where they will have to seek protection. The agreements severely restricted access to asylum because the Northern Triangle countries do not have comparable asylum systems to the United States. On February 5, 2021, the United States withdrew from its agreement with Guatemala.
The EO also revoked the following executive actions:
Biden’s EO also directs review of the following policies to determine whether to terminate or modify them:
On March 24, 2021, President Biden tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with coordinating efforts with Central American countries to address the root causes of migration. Harris is leading diplomatic efforts with Mexico and Central America’s Northern Triangle countries, to make it safer for people to remain in their home countries and apply for visas and green cards there, instead of taking dangerous irregular migration routes to the United States.
On February 4, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on fortifying programs to resettle refugees and to examine the impact of climate change on migration. In advance of signing the order, Biden stated his intent to lift the annual cap on refugee admissions in the United States to 125,000 for fiscal year 2022 and to increase the cap for 2021 as well. Former President Trump lowered the cap on refugee admissions each year of his presidency and set the cap at 15,000 admissions for 2021.
The US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) was established by The Refugee Act of 1980. In the program’s 40-year history, the United States has resettled more than 3.1 million refugees. Over time, refugees have been highly successful in the United States. They become US citizens, homeowners, English speakers, workers, business owners, college-educated, insured, and computer literate at high rates. Resettled refugees are also the most heavily vetted entrants into the United States, and they can enhance US economic and security interests . USRAP formerly enjoyed bipartisan support. However, the Trump administration cast this life-saving program as a threat, burden, and at odds with his America First ethic. Beyond setting record low admissions ceilings, Trump issued orders on extreme vetting ( EO 13815 and Presidential Memorandum on March 6, 2017 ), and that required the consent of states and localities to the resettlement of refugees in their jurisdictions ( EO 13888 ). The later policy was declared unlawful by a federal judge, after many states and localities said they would continue to welcome refugees.
Biden’s February 4th order revoked EO 13815, EO 13888, and the Presidential Memorandum on March 6, 2017, which directed DHS and DOS to implement more rigorous vetting processes for visa applicants. It also directs relevant agencies to enhance and review the refugee resettlement program, strengthen refugee vetting, and build the program’s adjudication capacity to ensure an efficient, safe and timely process. It also commits to prioritizing the resettlement of women, children, and others facing persecution because of their gender or sexual orientation. It calls for an interagency examination of the impact of climate change on migration and how to address the needs of immigrants displaced by climate change. The order also directs a review of the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) program for Iraqi and Afghan Allies to ensure these visas are issued efficiently and to evaluate if the United States should extend SIV programs to persons who assist the US government in conflict areas, regardless of their nationality.
On April 16, 2021, President Biden signed an emergency presidential determination that temporarily kept in place the Trump administration’s historically low refugee admissions cap of 15,000 for FY 2021 but returned to allocating refugee admissions based on region. Under the former president’s directive, stringent restrictions were placed on accepting refugees from certain African and majority-Muslim countries and priority was given to Christians who faced religious persecution and Iraqis who worked for the US military.
On April 30, 2021, the Biden administration imposed new COVID-19 travel restrictions on most non-US citizens traveling from India. The restrictions were prompted by reports of over 300,000 average new daily COVID-19 cases in India that week and a new variant strain of the virus circulating in India. Any foreign national who has been to India at any point 14 days before their scheduled travel to the United States will be denied entry. These travel restrictions will not apply to US citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs), certain noncitizen family members of US citizens and LPRs, and noncitizens with specific visas or whose entry would be in the national interest.
On May 3, 2021, President Biden increased the refugee admissions ceiling for FY 2021 from 15,000 to 62,500. Biden also reaffirmed his intention to raise the ceiling to 125,000 for FY 2022. This commitment was part of his campaign platform and a pledge he made when announcing his February 4 th EO on refugee resettlement and climate migration . The May 3rd presidential determination on refugees includes 22,000 slots for Africa, 6,000 for East Asia, 4,000 for Europe and Central Asia, 5,000 for Latin America/Caribbean, 13,000 for Near East/South Asia, and 12,500 that are unallocated. Biden acknowledged that it would be challenging to resettle 62,500 refugees this year (through the first six months of FY 2021 only 2,050 refugees had been admitted) and to meet its 125,000 goal for FY 2022 because of the “the damage of the last four years.” He said his budget to Congress “reflects my commitment to the goal of 125,000 refugee admissions” and to “American leadership and American values when it comes to refugee admissions.”
February 2, 2021, Updated: May 24, 2021
