Changes on the Horizon Impacting Immigration Law
On January 21, 2021, the Biden administration took office and immediately unraveled some of the restrictive immigration policies that the Trump administration had put into place. While some of these changes are the first step toward more expansive and systemic change, some have had an immediate impact on immigration law.
- The Biden Administration has ended the discriminatory bans on travel to the U.S. from certain countries, many of which are Muslim countries.
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary David Pekoske issued a memo to some DHS offices that rescinded the previous administration’s guidance on priorities for deporting immigrants for further review and enacted interim guidance. This document also contains a 100-day ban on deportations of certain immigrants. (However, a federal district court currently has suspended implementation of the 100-day deportation ban.)
- President Biden issued a proclamation ending the “national emergency” previously declared for the U.S.-Mexican border due to an alleged surge in Central American migrants. Construction on the southern border wall also has ceased.
- DHS has suspended the practice of placing immigrants in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or the “Return to Mexico” program. However, the administration has not yet addressed the tens of thousands of people remaining in Mexico under the MPP.
- President Biden has directed relevant government officials to review pending federal regulations that have not yet gone into effect and push back their effective dates until the Biden administration can review and decide whether to withdraw the regulations. This change impacts the H-1B visa lottery system’s termination that otherwise was to become effective on March 9, 2021.
- Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson rescinded the “zero tolerance” policy for those who cross the U.S.-Mexican border illegally, which resulted in family separations.
- President took steps to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
- President Biden sent a comprehensive immigration reform bill to Congress. Although it is not likely that Congress will pass the bill as written, the move will spur members of Congress to begin considering system immigration law reform. Some of the issues that the Biden Administration hopes to address in this legislation include:
- A path to green cards and citizenship for unauthorized immigrants
- Reforms to family-based immigration
- Reforms to employment-based immigration
- Improvements to the asylum program and similar humanitarian programs
- Improvements to the E-Verify employment system
We Are Here to Handle Your Immigration Law Needs We know how confusing and overwhelming immigration cases can be, whether you are an individual, a business, or an employer. With policies and regulations changing daily, you need legal representatives who keep you informed about those changes and how they might benefit you. The attorneys at Bashyam Global Immigration Law Group are here to handle the entire range of your immigration law needs. Call us today at 919-833-0840 and get help to resolve your immigration problem.