Migration News

Biden vows to allow more refugees into the United States
Hannah Miao, CNBC
President Joe Biden announced Thursday he plans to raise the cap on refugees allowed to enter the U.S. as he inherits a resettlement program whittled down by former President Donald Trump. “Today, I’m approving an executive order to begin the hard work of restoring our refugee admissions program to help meet the unprecedented global need,” Biden said. “It’s going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged.”

Biden to Welcome More Refugees, but Far From All Will Get In
Lara Jakes, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Maggie Haberman and Michael D. Shear, The New York Times 
President Biden’s expected announcement on Thursday that he intends to allow more refugees into the United States this year will bring him face to face with a policy barrier left by his predecessor: a gutted resettlement system unable to quickly process the tens of thousands of desperate people whom Mr. Biden would like to let in. Stripped of personnel and weakened by the coronavirus, the government’s refugee program is simply not equipped to welcome a flood of foreigners fleeing disaster, officials and experts said.

U.S. expels dozens of Haitian asylum seekers to Mexico
Jose Luis Gonzalez and Lizbeth Diaz, Reuters 
U.S. authorities returned dozens of Haitians to the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez from El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, a move that appeared to contradict a policy agreement in place with Mexico brokered under the previous U.S. administration.

Biden Is Dropping Trump's Policy Of Immediately Expelling Unaccompanied Immigrant Children At The Border
Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed News
President Joe Biden will not use sweeping powers wielded by his predecessor to expel unaccompanied immigrant children at the southern border despite a federal appeals court clearing the way for him to do so last week, a White House spokesperson said Tuesday.

Biden orders call for sweeping review of immigration system
Suzanne Monyak, Roll Call
Continuing to take aim at the prior administration’s asylum policies and legal immigration restrictions, President Joe Biden signed executive orders Tuesday intended to fulfill a campaign promise of addressing families separated at the border, as well as halting certain fast-tracked deportations.

Biden Administration Faces Backlog of 380,000 Waiting to Immigrate
Caleb Hampton, The New York Times
A State Department official said in federal court last month that, as of Dec. 31, more than 380,000 immigrant visa applicants were awaiting a consular interview. Immigration experts said it would take up to a year under normal circumstances to work through that many applications.

US ends deal with Arizona restricting Biden on immigration
Anita Snow and Ben Fox, Yahoo News
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has terminated an unusual agreement that Arizona’s top prosecutor signed with the agency in the waning days of the Trump administration to try to restrict President Joe Biden's ability to overhaul his predecessor’s immigration policies.

Poll: Most Americans support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
Nicole Narea, Vox  
A new poll conducted January 29 to February 1 by Vox and Data for Progress (DFP) found that a majority of 1,124 likely voters and an overwhelming proportion of Democrats “strongly” or “somewhat” supported offering a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants broadly (69 percent and 86 percent, respectively). That support jumps to 72 percent of likely voters and 87 percent of Democrats if you ask them specifically about “DREAMers” who were brought to the US as children. Those findings are consistent with other recent surveys on legalization, including one conducted by Pew in June 2020.

Supreme Court cancels border wall, asylum policy hearings after Biden shifts
Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill 
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to cancel upcoming hearings challenging President Trump’s border wall and asylum policies after the Biden administration signaled its plans to reverse course on each. President Biden on his first day in office suspended construction of the border wall pending a review of its legality. The next day the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suspended Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy, which blocked migrants from crossing the border to apply for asylum.

Vermont Plans to Send Cash to Immigrant Farmworkers Left Out of Stimulus
Elizabeth Hewitt, Civil Eats 
Vermont is not the first state to pass such a measure. Due to the exclusion of many immigrants from federal COVID-19 aid, relief for at least 1.2 million of the nation’s farmworkers has been scattershot across the country, depending on what measures state and local governments, and local organizations, have set up. The advocates pushing for this form of stimulus say it’s not just a matter of supporting the immigrants who work in the food system through the crisis, but about recognizing their rights.

UNHCR welcomes U.S. action on refugees
UNHCR, Relief Web 
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes renewed U.S. commitments announced today aimed at providing safety and solutions for people in need of protection from violence and persecution. This action reflects authentic humanitarian values and reaffirms U.S. leadership amid global levels of forced displacement unseen since World War II.“We are heartened by the executive actions taken today by President Biden,” said Matthew Reynolds, UNHCR’s representative to the United States and the Caribbean.

New claims of migrant abuse as Ice defies Biden to continue deportations
Julian Borger, The Guardian 
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has been denounced as a “rogue agency” after new allegations of assaults on asylum seekers emerged, and deportations of African and Caribbean migrants continued in defiance of the Biden administration’s orders. Joe Biden unveiled his immigration agenda on Tuesday, and his homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, was confirmed by the Senate, but the continued deportations suggested the Biden White House still does not have full control of Ice, which faces multiple allegations of human rights abuses and allegations that it has disproportionately targeted black migrants. 

Further Reading  

Could Biden policies on immigration ease undocumented immigrants' concerns? 

NBC News 

Attorney Says Burma Coup Has Impact on Immigrant Community in Buffalo 

Spectrum News 

What's next for these transgender asylum seekers stranded in Mexico? 

National Geographic 

Immigrant rights group raises public support for KC area dad set to be deported 

The Kansas City Star 

House Bill would let undocumented immigrants get driver’s licenses in Pennsylvania 

WGAL Lancaster