One year into Joe Biden’s presidency, immigration policy remains a pressing concern. While Biden has taken timid steps to reform a broken system, involvement from Congress is necessary to provide clarity for those in this country legally and those who are aiming to arrive while adhering to our laws.
Undoubtedly, illegal immigration is an issue. Enforcement of laws is essential to a functioning society; those who believe current immigration laws are draconian and those believe they are too lax should work to change those laws. Until then, the laws in place should be followed.
Unfortunately, when it comes to immigration, laws and policy can differ. Biden, like Donald Trump before him and presidents prior to that, has seized the growing power of the presidency to impose executive orders rather than seek legislation. The result is a confusing amalgam of ever-changing policies.
The Build Back Better legislation, which has been a political football in Washington, D.C., is an opportunity to provide clarity and assurance to undocumented immigrants — as well as employers who depend on those immigrants.
As Seattle-based Crosscut.com reports in an examination of the impact of immigration policy: “Under the current version of the bill, up to 7 million undocumented residents who arrived in the U.S. before 2011 could avoid deportation for five years and be eligible for a work permit. The bill also provides provisions to improve the distribution of permanent residency, or green cards, including additional funding to tackle processing backlogs and the ability to use unused visas from previous years.”
Questions linger about whether immigration will be included in the final bill. There also are questions about the long-term fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy. In July, a U.S. district court held that DACA is unlawful, but allowed the program to continue for current recipients and allowed for continued renewals.
DACA, which allows people brought illegally to this country as children to remain here, should be permanently renewed through an act of Congress. Deporting people who arrived through no fault of their own and have built a life in the United States — for many, the only country they have ever known — would not only be cruel but detrimental to the economy.
Whether urging from the administration or basic common sense will be enough to get a dysfunctional Congress to reach agreement remains to be seen. But DACA should be the least of the debates surrounding immigration issues.
Meanwhile, clarity is needed after decades of uncertainty about immigration policy. As Catalina Velasquez of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network told Crosscut: “To see policymakers, elected officials, play politics with the lives of people like me, with the lives of my family, it’s very disheartening. It feels like we’re in a moment in U.S. history where we’re so morally bankrupt we can’t prioritize human lives over political disagreement.”
Biden’s critics have falsely claimed that Democrats support “open borders” while at the same time pointing to record numbers of arrests. Some 1.66 million migrants were detained during fiscal year 2021, which belies claims that the border is open.
Amid the cacophony of falsehoods and the politicking surrounding the issue, both parties must seek solutions rather that the opportunity to score political points. While the president is the focal point of immigration policy, Congress must take the lead in devising a bipartisan approach.
