President Biden’s Immigration Challenge

The Trump administration faced many criticisms regarding the separation of immigrating children from families on the southern border. Now that a new president is in the White House, how is President Biden handling the issue? Here, Election Central takes a closer look.

A System in Crisis

President Biden’s team is working on a large set of legal policies to address how immigrants are allowed into the United States and under what conditions they can work and pursue citizenship. The problems of immigration are very complex. Right now, however, President Biden is facing a surge of immigrants arriving at the nation’s southern border. The number of people arriving at the border is approaching a twenty-year high. At the same time, coronavirus restrictions mean that many of these people are being turned away. The overwhelmed administration has now called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help navigate the situation.

Our immigration system now allows unaccompanied children under the age of 18 to enter the country. But they can only be held for 72 hours before they must be moved to a sponsor to await their court hearing. If that is not available, they must be returned across the U.S. border. During that 72-hour period, children are being detained at camps near the border. Because of the rapid rise in immigrant arrivals, the number of children in these detention camps has risen rapidly: from 3,200 in early March, to more than 13,000 by March 19th. At least 3,000 of the children have been kept longer than that. Conditions inside the camps are inappropriate for children. They are overcrowded, and children who have been detained there say that they were not given access to adequate food or soap.

Is Anything Different?

This sounds a lot like what was happening under the Trump administration. So what has changed? President Biden is not automatically deporting children who cross the border illegally. Biden has also begun working to unite families that were separated under President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy. Furthermore, the White House has begun to process the tens of thousands of immigrants who were detained and held in Mexico under Trump. They are being allowed to wait in the U.S. while their cases are decided.

However, Democrats and human rights groups are still critical of Biden’s approach. Though minor children are only allowed to stay with the Department of Homeland Security for 72 hours, they are then transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services, where they remain for the average of a month before being connected with U.S. sponsors. Critics are concerned about keeping children in U.S. custody for so long. According to the Biden White House, changes are underway to convert the current process to a more streamlined approach that would connect the children with their U.S. sponsors within 72 hours of their arrival.  

Dig Deeper Visit the White House website and see what information you can find about the Biden administration’s statements about immigration and the crowded conditions on the border. Write a summary of what you learn.