Biden’s early immigration orders largely limited to reviewing, not undoing, Trump policy [Los Angeles Times]
President Biden’s administration pledged early executive action to swiftly undo many of his predecessor’s policies to remake the U.S. immigration system. But in Biden’s first weeks in office, officials have found themselves pleading for patience, saying they are constrained by President Trump’s tangle of executive orders and administrative restrictions on immigration, as well as by public health concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, Biden will sign a series of executive orders and directives on immigration that primarily mandate the review of, rather than an end to, Trump policies that the new administration has said it would get rid of, according to Biden officials who previewed the actions.
Marilyn Miranda, 9, draped in a Salvadoran flag, attends an immigration rally with her mother outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington June 4, 2019. (CNS photo/Leah Millis, Reuters)
For years, the U.S. policy on the southern border has focused on security above all else. Under former President Trump, for example, the United States implemented a zero-tolerance policy that led to thousands of children being separated from their families. The administration also put into force the Migrant Protections Protocol, which empowered immigration officials to return thousands of asylum seekers to Mexico to await court decisions in the immigration court system. The administration touted extending the existing border wall.