President Biden: Championing Immigration Reform?
Ibrahim, Graduate Student (UM-Dearborn) President Biden isn’t the almighty immigration reformer he claims to be, just look at his past record. President Biden needs to talk less and do more if he is truly going to change United States policies and opinions on immigration and enact reform. During the 2020 Presidential Debate, then candidate Joe Biden stated and I quote “To compare [Obama] to what this guy (Trump) is doing is close to immoral” (Boehm 2019). More than five million people were deported from the United States during Obama/Biden administration. In 2012, alone, 419,384 people were deported, holding as the record for most people deported in a single year. Compare that to former President Trump, who never deported more than 260,000 people in a single year. Many argue that those deported under the Obama/Biden administration were convicted criminals, whereas the Trump Administration used deportation indiscriminately. Some may claim that, for this reason, Trump’s deportations were worse. Still, deportation is deportation—as if one is actually better or different from the other. It remains to be seen how President Biden will distinguish this administration’s immigration policies from those of the Obama/Biden administration. His immigration record is not as progressive as some might think. Biden supported the 2012 pilot program called the Criminal Alien Removal Initiative, which allowed for individuals suspected of being immigrants to be detained, finger printed and if found to be undocumented arrested and deported. President Biden also supported President George W. Bush’s backed Secure Fence Act of 2006, which cost the tax payers $2.6 billion dollars. Ironically enough the Secure Fence Act is was somewhat similar to Trump’s Border Wall initiative. My point isn’t to argue who was or wasn’t the real “Deporter and Chief.” It is that, regardless of who you are or who is in office, our immigration policy is and will continue to be broken until we can come to a true consensus on what “we” all want. Politicians often tell the masses who support them what they want to hear. At the end of the day, we have at least one viable option: a clear, concise, expedited pathway to citizenship. If we can follow directions in order to put together a piece of furniture from Ikea, I think we can create a roadmap to citizenship. We have the means, the motivation and hopefully the technology to do this. So why can’t it be done? Immigration is personal for many. It is for me. My mother is Mexican and my father is Lebanese. My father immigrated here when he was in his mid 20’s, while my mother was born in the United States. However, at some point and time long before I was born, my mother’s family also immigrated to the United States. Immigration reform is not about politics—it is about people. When will the talking stop and the action start? References: 1. Boehm, Eric. “Actually, Joe Biden and the Obama Administration Deported More People Than Trump.” Reason.com, Reason, 28 June 2019, (reason.com/2019/06/27/actually-joe-biden-and-the-obama-administration-deported-more-people-than-trump/). 2. Budryk, Zack. “Deportations Lower under Trump Administration than Obama: Report.” TheHill, The Hill, 18 Nov. 2019, (thehill.com/latino/470900-deportations-lower-under-trump-than-obama-report). 3. K, Ranjini. “Barack Obama Deported More People in His First Term than Trump.” Partly True, 1 Sept. 2020, (www.logically.ai/factchecks/library/8930b4ea).
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