President Biden on Tuesday signed three executive orders on immigration, including one to create a task force to reunify separated migrants under the Trump administration – part of a major effort by Biden to reverse his predecessor’s immigration policies.
“I am not making a new law, I am eliminating bad policies,” said Biden of the Oval Office. “What I’m doing is addressing the issues that, 99 percent of them, that the last president of the United States issued executive orders that I considered very counterproductive for our security, counterproductive for who we are as a country, especially in the area of immigration.“
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“It is about how the United States gets safer, stronger and more prosperous when we have a fair, orderly and humane legal immigration system,” he said.
One of the orders will create a task force to carry out the reunification of migrants who were separated from their relatives at the border during the Trump administration through the “zero tolerance” policy.
This policy prevented the practice of adults being admitted to the United States when applying for asylum if they were accompanying a child. Due to court orders that prevented minors from being detained for more than a few weeks, this means that children were placed in care or transferred to relatives in the United States, while parents or guardians were deported.
The Trump administration ended up reversing the policy in the midst of an adverse reaction, and migrant activists have asked that those who have been removed be allowed to rejoin and even receive green cards as compensation.
A senior government official told reporters that the task force’s recommendations would take into account “the menu of options that exist under immigration, the appropriate issuance of visas or other immigration benefits.”
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The new task force will work to find those who have been separated and will make recommendations to Biden and other agencies on steps that can be taken.
On Tuesday, Biden said: “We will work to undo the moral and national shame of the previous government that literally, not figuratively, snatched children out of their families’ arms … with no plans, absolutely none to reunite children who are still in custody and their parents. “
A second order will implement a three-part strategy to deal with “irregular migration” on the southern border. It includes developing a strategy to tackle instability and other factors that drive migrants to the north, in collaboration with other countries.
It also instructs the Department of Homeland Security to review the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) that Biden promised to end. The protocols, known as the Remain in Mexico policy, keep migrants south of the border while their immigration hearings are ongoing, rather than admitting them to their homeland.
Critics say the policy is cruel and puts migrants in danger. But Trump officials have warned that the policy ends up with one of the main attraction factors for migrants, and ending it can result in chaos and a wave of illegal immigration.
Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), accused Biden of “ignoring or exacerbating the ‘attraction factors’ over which he has complete control”.
“In the first weeks of his administration, President Biden has clearly signaled that sanctuary policies will be strengthened, access to public benefits will be increased, asylum fraud will be rewarded and detentions and removals will almost cease,” Stein said in a statement.
Former Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan told Fox News on Tuesday that the move was “another significant step in restoring incentives and loopholes to be exploited by migrants to enter our country illegally.”
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“With another stroke of the pen, Biden is doubling his open border strategies, encouraging illegal migration and creating the next crisis to reach our borders,” he said. “Two weeks after this new administration, our borders are less secure, our country is less secure and the mission of our frontline personnel has become more dangerous.”
The order does not immediately terminate the MPP, but takes the first steps to do so by requesting a review. Biden had promised to end the program on “the first day”, but officials later said it “would take time”. Nor does the order put an end to the Title 42 public health restrictions that allowed for the rapid removal of new illegal immigrants in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic.
The order puts an end to a series of asylum policies that the Biden government claims to have closed for asylum seekers.
Finally, on legal immigration, the third order signed on Tuesday will constitute a review of Trump-era policies on this form of immigration, and will “streamline” the naturalization process and instruct agencies to review the public collection rule – which limited green cards for immigrants are considered to be dependent on welfare.
“The executive order includes a review of many regulations, orders, guidelines, documents and policies that the Trump administration has implemented over the past four years,” said a senior government official. “The review will be conducted by the State Department, Department of Justice and DHS and will assess which policies are inconsistent with the federal government’s desire to promote integration and inclusion, citizenship and full participation by our youngest Americans.”
The dramatic changes – in addition to a series of requests in Biden’s first week that ended the construction of the wall, strengthened the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, reversed Trump-era travel restrictions in countries considered a risk to security, and sought to impose a 100-day break on deportations – it faces strong Republican opposition.
Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., accused Biden of reversing the gains made by the Trump administration in cracking down on illegal immigration.
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“The refusal to continue building the border wall and changing Trump’s asylum policies by requiring migrants to wait in Mexico for the trial date are formulas for disaster and will create a massive future on the border,” he said in a statement. “The caravans will begin to flow again and America will be under siege once again by new waves of migrants in response to the weak immigration policies of the Biden government.
Jason Donner and Matt Leach of Fox News contributed to this report.