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February 5, 2021
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Migration News: February 5, 2021
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Migration News
Biden signs order to ramp up refugee admissions and plans to allocate 125,000 spots next fiscal year
Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News - special LIRS mention!
President Biden issued an executive order on Thursday to increase refugee admissions and allow the U.S. to set a goal of providing safe haven to 125,000 people around the world fleeing violence, conflict and persecution during his first full fiscal year in office. In the order, Mr. Biden called for an expansion of the decades-old U.S. refugee program, which was gutted by former President Trump, who frequently portrayed refugees as economic and security risks. After former President Obama set a 110,000-person ceiling before leaving office, Mr. Trump slashed it every fiscal year, allocating a historically low 15,000 spots in 2020.
Al Jazeera
US President Joe Biden will issue an executive order to build up the country’s capacity to accept refugees, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said during a White House briefing on Thursday, but the timing of the action remains unclear. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said later in the briefing that she did not expect Biden to issue the order on Thursday, but that Biden is “committed to looking for ways to ensure more refugees are welcomed into the United States”.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs, The New York Times
A Mexican law has stopped the United States from rapidly turning away migrant families at one of the busiest sections of the southwestern border, forcing agents to resume releasing families into the country, according to three Biden administration officials. The Trump administration began turning back migrants entering the United States in March, citing the threat of the coronavirus, and the emergency rule effectively sealed the border from asylum seekers. But because of a law Mexico passed in November that prohibits the detention of immigrant children and families, the country has stopped accepting such families from South Texas, an area typically susceptible to illegal crossings, officials said.
Nick Miroff and Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
The Mexican government has stopped taking back Central American families “expelled” at the U.S. border under a Trump-era emergency health order related to the coronavirus, a shift that has prompted U.S. Customs and Border Protection to release more parents and children into the U.S. interior, according to five U.S. officials. The change, which has not been publicly disclosed, raises concerns in U.S. border communities and at the Department of Homeland Security because the large-scale release of parents and children into the United States has triggered previous waves of unauthorized migration.
Julian Aguilar, The Texas Tribune
In his first weeks in office, President Joe Biden has made his administration’s approach on immigration policy clear: reviewing or replacing four years of his predecessor’s hardline approaches. In less than three weeks in office, Biden has sent to Congress a massive immigration reform bill that would provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, issued executive orders to refortify the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and ordered a review of interior enforcement policies and the controversial Migrant Protection Protocols.
Lauren Villagran, El Paso Times
The U.S. Border Patrol on Wednesday confirmed it returned some Haitian migrants to an El Paso-Juárez international port of entry, prompting shocked advocates in Mexico to rush to their aid. In a statement, a Border Patrol spokesman said 140 people were returned to Juárez over two days. Separately, the El Paso Times confirmed that the migrants returned through the Ysleta-Zaragoza bridge were Haitian nationals.
Sandra Cuffe, The Intercept
Crackdowns on migrant caravans in recent years have come amid U.S. pressure on Mexico and Central American countries to stop migrants and asylum-seekers long before they reach the U.S. southern border. Regional militarization in response to migration increased during the administration of President Donald Trump, but it was a continuation of bipartisan efforts to contain migration from President Barack Obama’s tenure in office — efforts that will likely continue under Biden.
Stuart Anderson, Forbes
A criticism of Joe Biden’s new immigration plan is it will increase the number of immigrants admitted to the United States. However, new research suggests increasing immigration is a good thing and argues that allowing in more immigrants will help America deal with an aging workforce and better address problems with government entitlement programs.
Further Reading
One Zero
The New York Times
Just Security
Voices of America
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