An Analysis of Biden’s Work Thus Far
By: Talia Gaffney
In the past, people struggling against domestic or gang violence could immigrate to the United States and qualify for asylum, allowing them to safely remain in the United States. However, the Trump administration issued the matter of A-B-, disallowing domestic and gang violence as a reason to allow immigrants to qualify for asylum, in an attempt to reduce the number of people immigrating to the United States. Recently, under Biden, the matter of A-B- has been vacated, so people can once again qualify for asylum if fleeing domestic/gang violence. However, there is still the question of whether or not someone who previously did not qualify for asylum because of the matter of A-B- can be reconsidered for asylum now that the matter of A-B- has been vacated. Lawyers are currently reopening cases where, due to the matter of A-B-, immigrants were originally denied asylum, in a renewed attempt to receive asylum for their clients, now that the matter of A-B- has been overturned.
Although many steps are being taken to improve immigration under Biden, Texas is still standing in its way. The state of Texas has filed multiple lawsuits against the Biden administration regarding immigration since January. For example, on his first day in office, Biden announced the start of a 100-day ban on deportations, and 2 days later, Texas sued the Biden administration. In addition to the lawsuits, Greg Abbott, Texas governor, recently announced Texas’ plans to build its own wall along its border with Mexico. However, according to Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, “States don’t have authority over immigration and our borders, that’s a federal authority.” Even if Texas had the authority to build a wall, though, it still may not be possible. A vast majority of the land the wall would be built on is privately owned, making the process much slower and more difficult. There are also federal regulations in place limiting construction in certain areas to protect the environment, water quality and historic sites. When building their wall, the Trump administration had ignored these regulations, but Biden will likely not do the same.
Additionally, even if Abbot managed to finish building the wall, it most likely would not function the way most people expect. Former border patrol agent Jenn Budd explains that walls make it more difficult for migrants to cross the border, but this just forces them to rely on help from smugglers to find a way to get around the wall. Therefore, according to Budd, the wall would make it more difficult to cross the border, but would not stop people from crossing, or attempting to cross.
Texas is one of the states housing the highest number of immigrants, with a population of 10% immigrants, possibly leading to its negative attitude towards immigration. However, California, a state containing over double Texas’ amount of immigrants, has a much more positive mindset, with 78% of the population believing that immigrants are beneficial to California, and 87% concluding that there should be a way for undocumented immigrants to stay in the country legally. Texas’ negative approach to immigration may be due its close proximity with the country from which the majority its immigrants are fleeing, Mexico. An overwhelming 51% of those immigrating to Texas are from Mexico, while the next most populous origin country is India, with only 6% of immigrants.
Overall, since his election, Biden has improved immigration in the United States by reversing Trump’s harmful policies, and instituting some of his own. However, he has had to constantly compete against the state of Texas and their lawsuits, border schemes, and general negative attitude towards immigration. Even though it seems that Abbot’s border wall may not be feasible, it still is undoing and slowing much of Biden’s immigration work.
