Democratic nominee comments on deportation

Democratic candidate Joe Biden took the victory during the most recent presidential election of the US, which took place on November 3, 2020. Biden’s stance on immigration is almost diametrically opposed to Trump’s. With this, we refer to most processes related to the immigration sector, from humanitarian programs, family-based immigration, employment visas or programs for international students, to deportation proceedings and immigration appeals.

For instance, for the Trump administration, increasing deportations and allowing “express removals” amid the health crisis was one of the main strategies to reduce illegal immigration and “teach a lesson” to foreigners who decided to cross the US’ borders without prior authorization.

During his term, President Trump ordered ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), which is one of the branches of DHS (Department of Homeland Security), to increase operations within the US to detain undocumented immigrants, mainly those with a criminal record, and start deportation proceedings for them.

However, the Biden administration plans to reform the detention and deportation system to decrease the massive outbreak of Coronavirus inside ICE immigration detention centers, end the detention of asylum seekers, prevent the export of the virus to more vulnerable territories and adopt other deportation methods.

Thus, during his political campaign and after winning the election, President Biden promised to freeze deportations in the US for the first 100 days in office, so that his team can restructure the current detention and deportation system.

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ICE has already started the 100-day moratorium on deportations

On Friday, January 22, 2021, two days after President Biden took office, ICE began a 100-day moratorium on deportation proceedings for most immigrants with final removal orders in the US.

Acting DHS Secretary, David Pekoske, ordered ICE to freeze deportations for 100 days through a memorandum. Pekoske states that federal entities should act cautiously and prioritize assertively, considering DHS’ limited resources.

However, the moratorium on deportations has a number of exceptions. Let’s see some of them:

• To be eligible, immigrants had to be physically present in the US before November 1, 2020.
• ICE has the power to deport immigrants with criminal records or those who pose a threat to the local population.
• ICE has the power to deport immigrants who have been involved in terrorist activity or espionage, or who could pose a threat to national security. (ICE’s Director can intervene in these scenarios).
• Immigrants will still have the right to request deportation on their own or be deported as required by law.

Other than that, the DHS Secretary ordered ICE to release additional instructions for the 100-day moratorium on deportations no later than February 1, 2021.

With this, the Biden government hopes to reform the detention and deportation system, implementing less arbitrary and more humane policies, which allow undocumented immigrants to have alternatives to request legal documentation if they meet the mandatory requirements.

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