WASHINGTON – President Biden reopened the country on Wednesday to people seeking green cards, ending the ban on legal immigration that President Donald J. Trump imposed last spring, citing what he said was the need to protect American jobs. during the pandemic.
In a proclamation, Biden said the ban “did not promote the interests of the United States”, challenging Trump’s claims that the way to protect the American economy during the health crisis was to isolate the country from the rest of the world.
“On the contrary,” said Biden of his predecessor’s immigration ban, “it harms the United States, including by preventing some family members of United States citizens and legal permanent residents from joining their families here. It also hurts industries in the United States that use talent from around the world. “
The president’s action was the latest example of his efforts to reverse Trump’s attack on the country’s immigration system. Since taking office, Biden has issued several executive orders and guidelines aimed at lifting restrictions on immigrants in the past four years.
In April, as the coronavirus crisis worsened, Trump ordered a “pause” in green card issuance, one of the main ways foreigners can be allowed to live and work in the United States.
At the time, Trump described his action as a way to protect Americans, millions of whom lost their jobs as the coronavirus threat paralyzed the economy.
“By stopping immigration, we will help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs with the reopening of America. So important, ”said Trump. “It would be wrong and unfair for the Americans fired by the virus to be replaced by new immigrant workers from abroad. We must first look after the American worker. “
Trump’s critics accused him of using the pandemic as an excuse to further advance his agenda of severely restricting immigration. And many scholars have noted that studies have repeatedly cast doubt on the idea that immigration was a direct threat to American jobs because many immigrants take jobs that Americans don’t want.
Mr. Biden echoed that sentiment. In his proclamation, he wrote that he discovered “that unrestricted entry into the United States” by people seeking green cards “was not detrimental to the interests of the United States”.
Foreigners trying to move to the United States may try to become “legal permanent residents” – also known as receiving a green card – which allows them to live in the country and eventually pursue citizenship.
Trump’s proclamation did not stop American citizens from trying to bring their spouses or children to the United States. But it banned other foreigners, including relatives of green card holders and those seeking green cards based on a job offer.
An analysis by the Migration Policy Institute at the time estimated that the policy could affect up to 660,000 people.
Biden vowed to return America’s immigration policies to what they were before Trump became president. He increased the number of refugees who can be resettled in the country and took steps to process asylum applications awaiting in miserable camps on the border with Mexico.
But Biden also proposed a more comprehensive overhaul of the country’s immigration laws, fulfilling a campaign promise it made to send legislation to Congress on the first day of his presidency.
In his legislation, the president would provide an eight-year path to citizenship for the majority of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The legislation was proposed in the House and Senate by Biden’s Democratic allies, but it is not clear whether it can win enough Republican support to pass the Senate.