Immigration Activists Pressure Biden to Deliver on His Promises

With a little over a month in office, President Joe Biden is already facing significant pushback to his immigration reform efforts, especially from immigrant rights advocates who feel that the president is walking back some of his promises. 

As one of the cornerstones of his campaign, Biden vowed to take immediate and comprehensive action to undo Trump’s border policies. Hours after his inauguration, Biden signed a flurry of immigration-related executive orders and announced a 100-day moratorium on deportations. He also sent an immigration reform bill to Congress, which included provisions for a pathway to citizenship for the almost 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.

While some cheered Biden’s actions, immigrant advocacy groups like Movimiento Cosecha, remained wary. “We will not declare victory on the basis of promises. And we will not wait for others to fight for our dignity,” Cosecha tweeted. “We have been down this road before and know that politicians will champion us in front of the cameras, then negotiate away our rights behind closed doors.”

Moratorium on deportations struck down

The 100-day moratorium on deportations was meant to give the Biden administration time to review how the U.S. enforces immigration, particularly the policies that were established by the previous administration. 

A federal judge, however, temporarily blocked the moratorium in January, citing the administration’s failure to “provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations.” Last week, the same Trump-appointed judge blocked it indefinitely.

Deportations have continued much in the same way they did under Trump. While it’s unclear exactly how many immigrants have been deported, the immigrant youth-led network United We Dream estimates that the number is around 26,000. 

Activists have expressed frustration that Biden has not done more to stop them. “Last week, Biden introduced his immigration plan. Today, the moratorium was officially blocked. Now, the administration will throw up their hands and say, ‘We’ve done what we can. Now it’s up to Congress.’ All the while, they will deport thousands,” Cosecha tweeted. “We can’t let them off the hook.”

Cynthia Garcia, United We Dream’s National Campaigns Manager for Community Protection, said in a press release, “President Biden campaigned on the promise that his administration would end the inhumane Trump and Obama-era policies that allowed ICE and CBP to deport millions of people over the last 12 years… Yet, within the first few weeks under the Biden administration, we have witnessed the perverse and racist legacy of ICE and CBP play out in real time, as ICE continues to deport hundreds of Black immigrants, tearing apart families and communities.”

Indeed, among those deported are Black immigrants. Prism Reports said that despite its promises to halt deportations, the Biden administration has spent Black History Month deporting Black immigrants. According to the UndocuBlack Network, more than 1,000 Black immigrants have been deported to Haiti, Jamaica, Guatemala and Nicaragua since Biden took office.

Immigration activists have not remained silent. Groups like the UndocuBlack Network and the Haitian Bridge Alliance have been working to raise awareness of the struggles Black immigrants continue to face.

In February, advocates and protestors gathered outside the offices of Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker in Newark to demand both the release of detainees in Bergen County Jail and an end to the detention and deportations of all immigrants. 

In a press release, organizers with Cosecha New Jersey said, “While more executive orders continue to be issued by the new administration, our community is seeing more deportation and a lack of political willingness to truly fight for ALL undocumented immigrants in this country and address the decades of bipartisan attacks on our families.”

“Just undoing Trump’s policies means a return to millions deported and criminalization and division of our community—a legacy this president will have to reckon with actions not words,” organizers added.

An immigration bill doomed to fail

Democratic members of Congress recently introduced Biden’s ambitious immigration reform bill. Even with control of the Senate, however, Democrats are unlikely to garner the necessary votes for the bill to pass. 

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who co-sponsored the bill in the Senate, said, “We know the path forward will demand negotiations with others. But we are not going to make concessions out of the gate. We will never win an argument that we don’t have the courage to make.”

Despite Mendendez’s reassurance, other members of Congress have already acknowledged that the bill will likely fail in its current form, but believe that parts of it may be accepted elsewhere or on their own. Permanent protection for DACA recipients, for example, appears to have greater support. A pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants, however, does not. 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters, “I salute the president for putting forth the legislation that he did. There are others who want to do piecemeal, and that may be a good approach today. That’s up for the Congress to decide.”

With Congress focused on passing the COVID stimulus package, however, it’s unclear when the immigration bill will be considered. 

Some advocates want Biden to take action in the meantime. Mijente’s national director, Marisa Franco, said in a press release, “President Biden has the authority and the responsibility to wield his executive authority and shape the guiding principles for our immigration. He and DHS Secretary Mayorkas must immediately overhaul the government agencies tasked with enforcing immigration law to ensure that our immigration system is serving a humanitarian mission, not wreaking havoc on vulnerable communities.”

Detention centers

Last week, the first migrant facility for children under the Biden administration opened in Carrizo Springs, Texas. Approximately 700 children between the ages of 13 and 17 are being held there. 

Public outcry has been swift. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted in response, “This is not okay, never has been okay, never will be okay—no matter the administration or party.”

The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) said in a press release, “We are shocked and saddened that, after four years of widespread public condemnation to migrant children being held in cages at the border, this country is still detaining kids for nothing more than crossing a border.”

“The Biden administration’s announcement on Monday that children would start being held at a facility in Carrizo Springs represents a chilling continuity of the Trump administration’s attitudes toward immigrants,” RAICES added. “It reinforces the notion that immigrants—including unaccompanied children—are less than human and should be warehoused away from the general population instead of being reunited with relatives in the United States.”

The Miami Herald has also reported that the Biden administration has plans to reopen another detention center for children in Homestead, Florida. The privately run facility was previously shuttered in 2019 after protests. It’s still unclear who will run the center when it reopens.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that opening the Carrizo Springs center was a difficult decision. “Our best option, in our view, is to get these kids processed through HHS facilities where there are COVID protocols in place, where they are safe, where they can have access to education and medical care,” she said.

According to the Washington Post, which first broke the story, the Carrizo Springs facility opened because the pandemic has halved the capacity at other centers and unaccompanied migrant children are arriving at the border at faster rates. Children are supposed to stay in the center for a maximum of 30 days while officials locate and run background checks on their sponsors. However, the average child stays in longer.

The facility is described as being a far cry from cages—an image that became synonymous with the Trump administration. According to the Washington Post, the Carrizo Springs detention center is equipped with classrooms, a hair salon, a dining tent, a basketball court and a soccer field. 

But for many advocates, the opening of these centers, regardless of their conditions, represents a broken promise by the Biden administration and a step in the wrong direction. 

“Nice(er) facility or not, a jail (cage, tent or building) is still a jail & the horrors of detention are meant to be a deterrent to migration,” RAICES said. 

“The Biden admin may be going back on its promises, but we’re not backing down on ours. Our legal staff will be showing up on Friday to service kids detained at Carizzo Springs bc every child deserves representation & we’re not stopping til it’s closed,” RAICES added. 

Biden’s moves on immigration haven’t come as a surprise to some organizations, which say that anti-immigrant policies and practices have been a staple of bipartisan politics for years, now. While Trump’s particularly cruel practices drew much attention, advocates recognize that Democratic presidents have also enforced anti-immigrant legislation, and they’re prepared to push back against both Democrats and Republicans.

“Joe Biden is the new president of the United States,” Cosecha stated on its website. “Our fight is only just beginning.”