President-elect Biden is committed to provide citizenship for 11 million undocumented individuals: Top advisors
Top advisers of president-elect Joe Biden on Monday reaffirmed the Biden administration’s commitment to overhaul the ‘dysfunctional immigration system’ and establish ‘a fair,humane,and orderly immigration system’.
Susan E. Rice, incoming domestic policy adviser, and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s pick for national security adviser, provided written statements in an exclusive interview with the Spanish wire service EFE reiterating sending a bill to Congress immediately after taking office. That bill will provide a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented individuals, as well as critically needed reforms of the broken immigration system, they said in the interview.
As the Biden Administration will not be able to fix everything on its own, he needs legislative changes to make enduring repairs to the immigration system, and the President-elect will share his vision with Congress, they said in the interview. As part of addressing root causes to build a future of better governance, greater opportunity, and enhanced security in the region, the Biden administration aims to implement a $4 billion, ‘4-year plan’ to confront corruption, enhance security, and foster prosperity in migrant-sending communities while ensuring these countries are investing in themselves.
”Second, we will expand lawful pathways for migration, allowing people to apply for refugee resettlement and temporary worker and other employment-based programs from within the region. We also will make it easier for people to reunite with their families in the United States. Many should be able to seek safety much closer to home. Finally, we will rethink asylum processing to make it more efficient and fair, enabling asylum officers to adjudicate claims so asylum seekers aren’t tied up in court proceedings for years. We will also expand case management and pursue other innovative programs to reduce reliance on detention, while ensuring compliance. Migrants seeking protection deserve to be treated humanely and fairly and to have their claims adjudicated expeditiously, and we will do our utmost to rebuild a system that honors those goals,” they told the wire service EFE.
“As part of this broader plan, President-elect Biden will work to expand and improve humanitarian protection throughout the region, including in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. As currently written, the outgoing administration’s so-called “asylum cooperative agreements” deny the right to apply for asylum in the United States to desperate asylum seekers rather than helping create alternative pathways to protection. That is just not who we are as a country. That is why the President-elect will work to promptly undo these agreements as part of our bilateral engagement with each of these governments,” Jake Sullivan said in the interview.
“The President-elect is committed to restoring and honoring our asylum laws, including at the border, and many of the outgoing administration’s policies will be rolled back right away. The current administration has badly damaged our asylum laws and processing capacity at the border at great cost to migrants seeking asylum. ecause of that, as well as the challenges presented Because of that, as well as the challenges presented by COVID-19, the Biden Administration will need time to fix the situation,” Susan Rice said.
