(L-r) Muzaffar Chishti, Senior Fellow, Director, Migration Policy Institute office at NYU School of Law; Nicole Ramos, Border Rights Project Director at Al Otro Lado, based in Tijuana, Mexico; Ava Benach, founding partner of Benach Collopy, an immigration attorney based in Washington D.C. (Photos: Ethnic Media Services)

TL; DR

The title says it all. Ethnic Media Services Contributing Editor Pilar Marrero expresses that immigration laws are more complicated than tax laws in the U.S. That itself is an eye-opening statement considering America was built by immigrants. Experts engage in a Q&A with Pilar Marrero as we get a glimpse of President Biden’s approach to immigration.

Immigration laws in America have been at the forefront of every political fight. Even in 2021, the GOP fights for closed borders, immigration limits, and any argument against immigrants – even very bizarre ones – would be a factual argument for the GOP. Think Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and look at the state of his state during this pandemic.

Although important, the goal of this article is not to ridicule the GOP’s primitive thinking in a progressive America. The goal of this article is to touch on President Biden’s approach to immigration, compared to Trump.

Trump vs. Biden

Muzaffar Chishti summarized Trump and President Biden’s very distinctive approach to immigration.

Trump, keeping up with his promise on aggressive action on immigration, had enacted about 450 executive actions in the span of 4 years. His immigration policy was depicted by the statement of Tom Homan. According to Chishti, “The Trump administration, to me, was defined by one thing, … a statement issued by I.C.E. Director, Tom Homan, once saying that every unauthorized person should be looking over their shoulder every day.” Perfectly summing it up, Trump’s presidency was considered “in immigration, a presidency on steroids.”

In comparison, President Biden has a very different approach to immigration laws in the U.S. Biden, in 6 months, has enacted 155 executive actions on immigration, almost 3x Trump – mainly reversing many of Trump’s policies. Chishti explains that President Biden reversed the priorities of immigration by only focusing on high-priority criminals or recent arrivals. Based on MPI calculations, 87% of unauthorized immigrants would have to worry less. “Ordinary status violators…can be reasonably sure that they can come home at night and see their kids.”

Green Cards

Green Cards/Permanent Residency status has been a complicated journey for many wanting to live the “American Dream.” Ava Benach lays out two paths to permanent residency – family-based and employee-based.

According to Benach, family-based Green Cards have a 22-year backlog that keeps increasing. Employment-based Green Cards have an 8-year backlog. Ava Benach points out that Indians are impacted the most with individual employment-based Green Cards.

The Bottom Line

The narrative towards immigration is shifting. The younger generation promotes immigration and believes that immigration is beneficial for the country.