Biden's Broad Plan to Undo Trump Immigration Policies

President-elect Joe Biden will propose far-reaching legislation on Wednesday to give the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States a path to citizenship citizens in as little as eight years. This ambitious and politically perilous plan is an attempt to undo the effects of President Trump’s four-year assault on immigration benefits.

Under the proposal that Mr. Biden will send to Congress on his first day in office, current recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as “Dreamers,” and others in temporary programs that were set up to shield some undocumented immigrants from deportation would be allowed to immediately apply for permanent legal residency, according to transition officials who were briefed on Mr. Biden’s plan.

The legislation would also restore and expand programs for refugees and asylum seekers after efforts by Mr. Trump and Stephen Miller, the White House aide who was the architect of the president’s immigration agenda, to effectively prevent entry into the United States for those seeking shelter from poverty, violence and war. Mr. Biden’s bill would provide new funding for foreign aid for Central American countries, increase opportunities for foreigners to work in the United States and enhance security at the border through new technologies instead of through the border wall Mr. Trump tried to build.

Mr. Biden’s proposal is the latest effort in a decades-long attempt to reimagine the nation’s immigration system by presidents from both parties, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama. As the Biden era opens, advocates for immigrants and anti-immigrant restrictionists alike are already bracing for the fight.


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