Immigration:
Biden Continues Attacks on Migrants

May 15, 2023

The media was hyperventilating about the imminent expiration of the COVID Emergency Order, and what they said would be a “flood” of migrants. This is because Title 42, which allowed border agents to expel migrants without hearing asylum claims, would expire along with the order. The order expired on Thursday, May 11 … and no “wave” appeared. The situation the day after was more or less the same as the day before.

Biden ran for president saying he would be different on immigration: that he would end detention of migrant families by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that he would raise the limit on the number of refugees who could settle here. He has done none of that.

For more than a year after his election, Biden kept Title 42 in place, even defending it in court. His administration attempted to end the policy, but was blocked by a Republican lawsuit. Under the Title, border patrol agents can remove migrants found in the U.S. back to Mexico without any asylum hearing. All told, migrants were expelled from the U.S. 2.7 million times under the policy.

Many immigrant rights advocates say Biden’s new restrictions are much the same as Trump’s. As before, migrants must seek protection in another country first, or apply for an appointment for a hearing using a phone app. Moreover, migrants who enter the U.S. against the rules will be banned from applying for five years. For desperate families fleeing violence, these policies become one final hurdle.

Biden works for the same masters that Trump did—he is carrying out nearly the same policy and for the same interests. The working class—both immigrant and native born—have our own interests.