When President Biden took office one year ago, improved immigration policies were expected, given Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate–especially after four years of President Trump’s xenophobic responses to undocumented immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.
However, improved policies have not occurred:
- Deportations under Biden have surpassed 1.28 million in just one year, compared to 800,000 in 3 years of the Trump administration. At the beginning of 2021, the number of people in ICE custody was 15,415, the lowest number in 20 years, but the Biden administration has since increased that number to 21,811. However, these numbers are based on surging immigration on the southern border since January 2021.
- Instead of eliminating the Trump-era “Migrant Protection Protocols” policy, the Biden administration has expanded it. The “Remain in Mexico” program that Trump started in 2018 (also known as MPP) endangers the lives of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers at the border by forcing them to wait in makeshift camps in Mexico while their immigration cases move forward in U.S. court. Immigration groups are very concerned about the safety and well-being of those who will be sent back to Mexico while they await their hearings. You can read more about the reported attacks here.
- The use of Title 42 is still being implemented to shut out asylum seekers and continues to inflict terror on immigrant communities.
- Millions of people remain without a clear path to citizenship. Democratic bills in both the Senate and the House have failed to address this issue.
Moving into 2022, here’s what you can do today to support immigrants and asylum seekers:
- Send an email to IL Senators Durbin and Duckworth urging them to disregard the unelected parliamentarian’s non-binding opinion and pass citizenship for immigrant families, neighbors, and communities.
- Join RAICES’ Keep the Promise campaign and demand Democrats keep their promise to the immigrant community!
- Support the #UprootedandUplifted campaign, where immigration is viewed as more than the policies and instead a natural and significant part of the story of every family in the United States.
- As the Illinois Way Forward Act comes into effect, ICE has the opportunity to release the approximately 130 people currently detained in McHenry and Kankakee county jails. Join prominent immigration advocacy groups in demanding the Department of Homeland Security use its prosecutorial discretion powers to release EVERYONE detained here.
Sources:
2021 Was Another Disappointing Year for Immigration Policy
https://reason.com/2021/12/30/2021-was-another-disappointing-year-for-immigration-policy/
COVID-19 ICE Detainee Statistics by Facility
https://www.ice.gov/coronavirus#detStat
Deportations Lower Under Trump Administration Than Obama: Report
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20200109/110349/HHRG-116-GO00-20200109-SD007.pdf
Free Them All: Release Not Transfer detained people at McHenry and Kankakee!
https://ocadchi.salsalabs.org/freethemall/index.html
Immigration Activists In Chicago Urge Democrats To Disregard Senate Parliamentarian, Move Forward With Reform
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/12/17/22841465/chicago-illinois-immigration-build-back-better-reform-undocumented-daca-green-card-durbin-biden
Number of confirmed deportations and expulsions under Biden
https://unitedwedream.org/protect-immigrants-now/biden-stop-deportations-now/
Publicly reported cases of violent attacks on individuals returned to Mexico under the “Migrant Protection Protocols”, as compiled by Human Rights First
https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/PubliclyReportedMPPAttacks2.19.2021.pdf
RAICES Condemns ‘Migrant Protection Protocols’ Reinstatement
https://www.raicestexas.org/2021/12/02/raices-condemns-migrant-protection-protocols-reinstatement/?ms=em20211230_launch_appeal_eoy_countdown&emci=bcf2634f-3963-ec11-94f6-0050f2e65e9b&emdi=12b8e511-ab69-ec11-94f6-0003ffc5857e
The State of the Immigration Fight
https://www.raicestexas.org/2021/12/21/the-state-of-immigration-fight/?ms=em20211230_launch_appeal_eoy_countdown&sourceid=1009565&emci=bcf2634f-3963-ec11-94f6-0050f2e65e9b&emdi=12b8e511-ab69-ec11-94f6-0003ffc5857e&ceid=353916
TAKE ACTION: Tell your Senators we must DISREGARD the Parliamentarian and include a path to citizenship in Build Back Better!
https://p2a.co/rh6XNJx
Texas Has Hundreds of Thousands of Coronavirus Carriers. The Governor Is Worried About ‘Hundreds’ of COVID-Positive Migrants.
https://reason.com/2021/03/05/texas-has-hundreds-of-thousands-of-coronavirus-carriers-the-governor-is-worried-about-hundreds-of-covid-positive-migrants/
Today we have the lowest number of people in immigration detention in over 20 years. On day one of the Biden Administration, this number must only trend down.
https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/pressroom/releases/2021/today-we-have-lowest-number-people-immigration-detention-over-20-years-day
Uprooted And Uplifted: Join The Fight
https://www.raicestexas.org/uprooted-and-uplifted/join-the-fight/?ms=em20211230_launch_appeal_eoy_countdown&emci=bcf2634f-3963-ec11-94f6-0050f2e65e9b&emdi=12b8e511-ab69-ec11-94f6-0003ffc5857e
Surging immigration on border:
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/border-arrests-record-levels-2021/2021/10/19/289dce64-3115-11ec-a880-a9d8c009a0b1_story.html&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1640969529149247&usg=AOvVaw2h4UxZ8oqTLiHnUH-Y7e1s