Biden takes on ‘national shame’ of Trump-era immigration policies

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered a review of asylum processing at the USMexico border and the immigration system as he seeks to undo some of former President Donald Trump’s hardline policies.

Biden also created a task force to reunite migrant families who were separated at the border by Trump’s 2018 “zero tolerance” strategy.

“We are going to work to undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration that literally, not figuratively, ripped children from the arms of their families,” Biden said, as he signed the three immigration-related executive orders.

The orders called for a dizzying array of reviews and reports that could trigger policy changes in the weeks and months ahead, but provide limited immediate relief to immigrants barred by Trump-era rules.

Immigration advocates have urged the new administration to quickly undo Trump’s policies but Biden aides say they need time to unravel the many layers of restrictions and to put in place more migrant-friendly systems.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday.

The cautious strategy reflects the tightrope Biden is walking to reverse hardline Trump policies while trying to prevent a surge in illegal immigration.

Biden opponents could also derail or slow his agenda with lawsuits if he moves too quickly and fails to follow proper procedures.

In a sign of the wary approach, Biden’s executive orders on Tuesday did not repeal an order known as “Title 42,” issued under Trump to stop the spread of the coronavirus and allows authorities to expel almost all people caught crossing the border illegally.

But he did mandate a review of the Migrant Protection Protocols, a Trump program that ordered 65,000 asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their US court hearings.

The Biden administration has stopped adding people to the program but has not yet outlined how it will process the claims of those already in it.

In Mexico, migrants enrolled in MPP said they were anxious for news about Biden’s plans.

“I don’t understand why he doesn’t just say what he’s going to do,” said Cuban asylum seeker Yuri Gonzalez, who has been waiting for over a year in Ciudad Juarez.

Chad Wolf, former acting Department of Homeland Security secretary under Trump, said halting the MPP program was a mistake because it had been an effective deterrent.

“If you do have a surge (of migrants), you’re taking one of your tools off the table,” he said in reference to the program.

Michelle Brane, a senior director with the New York City-based Women’s Refugee Commission, said advocates had been hoping for Biden’s orders to be “more immediate and operational,” but that they would “wait and see” what concrete steps immigration agencies take.

The tone of Biden’s orders differed dramatically from Trump’s incendiary immigration rhetoric depicting asylum seekers as a security threat or an economic drain on the United States.

“Securing our borders does not require us to ignore the humanity of those who seek to cross them,” reads the order dealing with asylum.

But opposition from Republicans continues and lawsuits by conservative groups could potentially slow Biden’s agenda. A federal judge last week temporarily blocked one of his first immigration moves — a 100day pause on many deportations — after the Republican-led state of Texas sought an injunction.

Biden’s executive orders on Tuesday also called for a review of Trump’s so-called “public charge” rule, which makes it harder for poorer immigrants to obtain permanent residency in the US. The review is expected to start the process to rescind it, according to two people familiar with the plan.