US President Joe Biden has signed three executive orders reversing Trump’s hardline immigration policies. He said, legal immigration system and policies were not ‘fair’ and Donald Trump’s hardline policies separated families.
The review of the existing policies are likely to benefit hundreds and thousands of Indian professionals. Biden said his executive orders are aimed to strengthen the immigration system.
“I’m not making new law, I’m eliminating bad policy,” Biden said.
The first executive order was on creating a task force, chaired by the Secretary of Homeland Security, to reunify families. This task force will work across governments to find parents and children separated by Trump’s administration.
The second executive order develops a strategy, directing the Department of Homeland Security to take steps to end the Migrant Protection Protocols programme, which had led to a humanitarian crisis in northern Mexico.
“We are doing this to undo the shame of the previous administration that literally ripped children from the arms of their families with no plan and we want to reunify the children in custody and their parents,” said Biden.
“The third executive order ensures that our legal immigration system operates fairly and efficiently by instructing agencies to review the public charge rule and related policies,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
“New Americans and their children fuel our economy. They have helped the US lead the world in science, technology and innovation,” said Biden.
The Biden administration has also decided not to pursue the move of the previous Trump administration to rescind the policy of giving work authorisation to spouses of H-1B visa holders. The move has been welcomed by legal Indian immigrants.
