In anticipation of the contentious 2020 Presidential election, Democratic nominee Joe Biden has released his immigration plan. In stark contrast to the anti-immigrant rhetoric of the Trump campaign, Biden’s plan is decidedly pro-immigrant—touting the United States as a “Nation of Immigrants.” The plan goes to great length to distance Biden from the sitting President; Biden condemns “the [Trump administration’s] unrelenting assault” on immigrants, and pledges to redress all the harm caused by their policies.
Fundamentally, Biden wishes to re-orient the United States: from a nation racked by racial division and nativist sentiment, to a nation once again committed to welcoming all immigrants—from the business investors to the “tired, poor, and huddled masses”—to our shores. His proposals highlight the centrality of immigration to the American Dream. Whereas Trump has derided immigrants, Biden firmly believes that immigrants are an asset to this country, citing evidence that they contribute $2 trillion to the U.S. economy on an annual basis.
Much of Biden’s plan—rhetorically and substantively—is constructed in opposition to Trump’s policies. Indeed, he states that his first order of business as POTUS would be to “undo Trump’s damage” to the immigration system. Specifically, he vows to reverse the majority of Trump’s executive actions, including: ending “Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols,” which endanger asylum seekers and refugees; reversing Trump’s “cruel” policies which separate children at the border; and rescinding the travel bans from Muslim-majority countries. Moreover, Biden commits to preserve Obama-era amnesty programs, such as DACA, TPS, and DED, which have been gutted by the Trump administration. Crucially, Biden also pledges to shift the enforcement priorities of his administration, and halt the deportation of people “who have never been convicted of a serious criminal offense and who have lived, worked, and contributed to our economy and our communities for decades.”
Beyond his promises to rescind Trump-era immigration policy, Biden also offers some visionary policy proposals, with the aim to modernize our immigration system. First, he states that he will work with Congress to “create a roadmap to citizenship” for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants. Next, he wishes to tackle the employment-immigration system: he pledges to streamline the “cumbersome” temporary worker visa program, and increase the amount of permanent, work-based visas awarded to highly-skilled immigrants.
To achieve his lofty goals, Biden will look to work with other jurisdictions—from local government to international allies—to ensure that all immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are treated lawfully. He highlights proposals that will repeal anti-immigrant state laws, expand protections to victims of sexual assault and trafficking, and ensure that immigrant workers are treated fairly in the workplace. Specifically, he proposes the expansion the U-Visa program to include immigrants who report labor violations. Additionally, in order to combat “unacceptable processing delays,” he promises a sizable increase in the number of visas issued to domestic violence and other violence survivors (VAWA petition, U-Visa, T-Visa).
It should be noted that many of these proposals formed the basis of President Obama’s immigration platform when he ran for POTUS with running-mate Joe Biden in 2008 and 2012. Of course, despite a concerted effort, the Obama administration failed in their promise to substantially overhaul the immigration system. Instead, the Obama administration was forced to work without Congress, and institute temporary executive measures. These measures were promptly repealed by the Trump administration. It will be incumbent upon Joe Biden, if elected, to follow through on these promises, and provide substantive reforms. Only then will he will he live up to his promise to restore “our values as a nation of immigrants.”