WASHINGTON (CU)_US President Joe Biden on Tuesday (Feb 2) signed three new executive orders aimed at reforming the immigration system set up by his predecessor Donald Trump.
Accordingly, a task force, led by newly confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, will be set up to reunite these children who were separated from their families after crossing the US – Mexico border.
It is reported that during the Trump administration, in 2017 and 2018 alone, there were at least 5,500 undocumented children taken away from their families.
“We’re going to work to undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration that literally not figuratively ripped children from the arms of their families, their mothers and fathers, at the border and with no plan, none whatsoever, to reunify the children who are still in custody and their parents,” President Biden said.
Meanwhile, the second executive order signed by the President will evaluate legal immigration programs, including the one which allowed certain children to enter the US if they were reuniting with their families, a programme which was terminated by the previous administration in 2017. Experts say this may be key to thousands of asylum seekers who have been trapped at the border while waiting for US officials to process their cases.
The third and final order will get the Justice Department, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to review policies set out by the Trump administration and consider if they fit under the new provision of ‘integration and inclusion’.
Those campaigning against the immigration policies of the Trump-era say the signing of these executive orders is a “good first step”.
“The expectation is that this administration takes bold, decisive action by swiftly reversing policies,” Alejandra Gomez, the co-executive director of grassroots organisation Living United for Change, said.
“[…] while review of Trump’s immigration policies is important, we need action. That’s why those of us who can vote elected him.”
