Biden Administration Wastes No Time in Adding an Immigration Crisis to the Other Crises Facing America, Says FAIR

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Faced with myriad crises ? most notably, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and fiscal fallout ? newly inaugurated President Joe Biden wasted no time in exacerbating those crises and inducing an immigration and border crisis, charged the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

On his first half-day in office, President Biden signed a series of executive orders that are certain to create a new rush to the border and potentially violate an entire body of federal statutes by refusing to enforce any immigration laws. Additionally, his administration's first legislative priority is a massive illegal alien amnesty bill for upwards of 14 million people, some of whom may have been here for less than a three week period prior to the president taking the oath of office ? or even worse, deported in the last four years.

"On day one, President Biden began advancing a radical open borders and mass amnesty immigration agenda, without regard for the health, security, or interests of the American people," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "The executive orders he signed and the legislation he is rolling out, will not only reward everyone who has violated our immigration laws in the past, but will induce millions more people to come to the United States illegally, regardless of health concerns, the welfare of American workers, or the fiscal capacity of governments at all levels to deal with massive numbers of new arrivals."

Among yesterday's executive actions and policy directives from federal agencies:

• A moratorium on deportations for 100 days ? including criminal aliens. This policy directive will prevent the removal of people who have already exhausted all legal efforts to remain in the United States and have been issued final orders of removal. Even criminal aliens are protected under this directive. The move amounts to an unconstitutional negation of all immigration enforcement laws enacted by Congress and signed into law by previous presidents.
• Curtailments of all civil interior immigration enforcement efforts. The president's executive order will halt nearly all immigration enforcement efforts against anyone who is in the interior of United States illegally, including those with criminal records.
• Suspension of new enrollment in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). The successful MPP policy, which requires asylum seekers to remain in Mexico until they can present their claims, has dramatically reduced the flow of fraudulent asylum seekers. Under President Biden's policy directive, bogus asylum seekers will no longer remain in Mexico, eliminating the most significant deterrent to asylum fraud. Organized caravans of fraudulent asylum seekers are already on their way.
• Termination of President Trump's border emergency declaration and a halt to construction of the border wall. Just as other actions being taken by the Biden administration will almost certainly spark a new border crisis, the president's executive order will rescind emergency powers to deal with it and stop construction dead in its tracks.
• Preserving and fortifying DACA. President Biden's executive order is an effort to preempt a judicial ruling on the constitutionality of DACA. A federal district court is currently reviewing whether President Obama had the constitutional authority to create the program in 2012.
• Termination of travel restrictions on citizens of countries whose governments have been declared as supporters of terrorism. President Biden's executive order will ignore grave security risks by allowing people from countries whose governments are listed by the State Department as supporting terrorism to enter the United States, even though they cannot be properly vetted.

In addition to numerous orders and policy directives that cripple immigration enforcement, the Biden administration, on its first day in office, made mass amnesty and massive increases in immigration their first legislative priority. Legislation prepared by the Biden White House:

• Grants amnesty and expedited citizenship for upwards of 14 million illegal aliens. Everyone, including people who arrived in the U.S. less than three weeks before the president took office or were deported under President Trump, would receive immediate work authorization (during an unemployment crisis) and a pathway to citizenship.
• Promotes large increases in both family and employment-based immigration. Despite overwhelming public support for maintaining limits on new immigration for the foreseeable future, the administration's proposed legislation responds to the demands of radical open borders advocates and cheap labor interests.
• Offers no enforcement measures to prevent future large-scale illegal immigration. None. The legislation will merely seek to address the "root causes" of migration from the sending countries, essentially making U.S. immigration policies hostage to corrupt and incompetent governments around the world.

"If day one of the Biden administration is any indication, the interests and security of the American people will be nonexistent in the formulation and execution of immigration policy over the next four years. Rather than begin his administration with a full-throttle effort to unify the nation and address the health, economic, and fiscal crises we face, President Biden has opted to further divide the nation by pursuing dangerous immigration policies favored by the most radical fringes of his party.

"It is an agenda that must be opposed by congressional Republicans and by whatever remnants of centrist Democrats remain," concluded Stein.

Contact: Matthew Tragesser, 202-328-7004 or [email protected]

ABOUT FAIR        

Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group. With over 3 million members and supporters nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)