Migratory Crisis in the US: A Look into Biden's Response

The immigration issue has become a real headache for President Joe Biden. One with severe political and electoral complications that could derail his young administration.
Since the campaign, the Democratic leader had promised that he would treat the problem as one of his top government priorities, immediately undoing many of the controversial measures implemented by Donald Trump during his four years in power.

In fact, during his first weeks in the White House, he did get rid of a large majority of them and presented to Congress the outlines of a profound immigration reform with which he intends to put an end to the drama experienced by the more than 10 million undocumented immigrants living in the country. And while he has maintained, for now, some of Trump’s measures, especially one that allows for the rapid deportation to Mexico of those who arrive at the border seeking asylum or are captured in its vicinity, he chose not to apply them when it comes to minors. But in practice, his position, as well as that of the Democratic Party, has translated into an impressive flow of migrants to the southern border, who believe that Biden’s arrival is an opportunity to finally get into the country of their dreams.

In particular, thousands of minors are arriving without their parents, knowing that the new administration has promised not to deport them. According to the Office of Customs and Border Protection, from June 2019 to date, the number of detained youths has doubled, and more are on the way. Some of Biden’s immediate solutions to the migratory crisis were:

To insist that the border is “closed” because of the coronavirus restrictions through the Oval Office microphone.
Ask Central Americans and others to stay in their countries while he tries to move legislative initiatives that would help improve the economic situation in the region and stop the need to migrate to the United States.

But none of this seems to have had any impact on a wave that continues to grow. Worse, the flow of minors is so great that the administration has not been able to place them in permanent detention centers and therefore continues to accommodate them in the temporary structures built by Trump and that the Democrats criticized so much for their poor conditions.

Republican Attack

The crisis has opened up a powerful line of attack for Republicans, who threaten to scuttle legislative initiatives that Democrats have been pushing.
Kevin McCarthy, leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, accused the President of having created a humanitarian crisis at the border by issuing an open invitation to hundreds of thousands of minors from the region to come to this country. And others are already beginning to talk about the President and the Democrats promoting a total opening of the borders and amnesty for those who broke the law.

Biden’s problem is that the crisis comes just when two bills on the immigration front, that were a priority, were on the front burner. This week, the House passed both:

The first one legalizes the so-called dreamers’ situation, people who came to the US illegally when they were very young.
The second states the same, but for agricultural workers, who annually enter the US to harvest crops but are then sent back to their countries of origin.

But the situation at the border has complicated its passage in the Senate, where Democrats only have 50 votes and require the support of at least 10 Republicans. Lawmakers in this party, at least the most pro-immigration ones, are demanding that Biden has to reinstate the “stay in Mexico” policy, which existed during the Trump years and which forces those seeking asylum in the US to remain in this country while their application is being resolved.

Likewise, to repeal laws passed in 2008 that prevent minors from being deported unless they are from Mexico or Canada. But both of these changes are vehemently opposed by the more liberal line of his party, which instead wants a more generous immigration policy. Therefore, there is a real risk that the initiatives will stall in the Senate, which would be seen as a major defeat since the Democrats control Congress. Moreover, it is a prelude to what could happen with the rest of immigration reform, which is much more contentious than the dreamer issue.
In any case, pressure has been mounting on both fronts. For pro-immigration groups, Biden is in an ideal position to accomplish what no other president has been able to in three decades now that he has a Democratic-majority Congress.
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