H1B Visa Lawyer Blog
We are interested in all the changes that the new Biden Administration is making but here we have listed the Immigration changes that effect our clients.
Immigration* – Executive Orders or Actions made on January 20th, by President Biden:
Defend “Dreamers” program for undocumented young Americans. Mr. Biden, in this executive order, calls on Congress to grant permanent status and a path to citizenship to Dreamers — almost a million undocumented young people who were brought to the country as children and shielded from deportation by President Obama. The Trump administration challenged the law, but the Supreme Court upheld it.
End so-called “Muslim travel ban,” which in 2017 restricted travel and immigration to the U.S. from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, before adding Eritrea, Nigeria, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and Tanzania in 2020. The State Department is also instructed to restart visa applications for these countries.
Change Trump’s arrest priorities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This executive order will repeal the changes Mr. Trump made in the first week of his presidency in 2017 to make interior immigration enforcement much stricter. Few specifics were listed in the outline of the executive order, but the incoming Biden White House team stated the Department of Homeland Security, in partnership with other agencies, will “set civil immigration enforcement policies that best protect the American people and are in line with our values and priorities.”
Stop border wall construction. Mr. Biden will end the national emergency declaration cited by the Trump administration to divert money to the building of the southern wall.
Keep protections for a group of Liberians in the country. Liberians who have been in the United States for many years will be able to remain longer. Their “deferred enforcement departure” will be extended an additional year, until June 30, 2022. President Trump briefly considered ending this deferment before ultimately extending the program.
Source of Information:
CBS News, 1/21/21, News Article:
Biden signs executive actions on COVID, climate change, immigration and more