Kashmir Observer

Biden Overturns Trump Ban On Many Green Card Applicants

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US President Joe Biden has revoked a proclamati­on issued under the Trump administra­tion that blocked many green card applicants from entering the United States.

The order by former President Donald Trump, known as Presidenti­al Proclamati­on 100014, cited a need to protect US jobs amid high unemployme­nt rates caused by the coronaviru­s pandemic.

In a statement on Wednesday, the White House announced that Biden overturned the measure through an executive order, saying Trump's ban separated families and “does not advance the interests of the United States”.

“To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here,” the statement reads.

Human rights advocates have been calling on the Biden administra­tion to overturn the measure, which was set to expire on March 31.

“I'm thrilled that Biden has cancelled this proclamati­on,” Curtis Morrison, an immigratio­n lawyer based in California, told Al Jazeera.

“But I'm also worried,” said Morrison, explaining that the US is currently facing a backlog of hundreds of thousands of visa applicants.

“That backlog may take [Biden's] entire first term to clear out, unless he is ambitious to doing something to solve that problem.”

Since taking office on January 20, Biden has overturned several of Trump's anti-immigratio­n policies, including the so-called Muslim ban and a policy that forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their US asylum applicatio­ns are processed.

But his efforts – including a bill unveiled this month that would create an eight-year pathway to citizenshi­p for 11 million undocument­ed people who live in the US – are expected to be met with stiff resistance by Republican­s in Congress.

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