By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON, D.C., Thurs. Jan. 28, 2021 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden is expected on Friday to issue executive orders on asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, refugee resettlement and the reunification of migrant families, according to a Biden transition team memo shared with lawmakers and interviews with two people familiar with the plans.
ASYLUM AND REGIONAL MIGRATION
Biden plans to rescind some Trump policies that made it harder to obtain asylum in the United States, according to the memo.
The memo did not specify which polices would be reversed, but a person familiar with the plans said Biden would end a controversial Trump program known as the Migrant Protection Protocols.
The Biden administration announced last Wednesday that it would end all new enrollments in the program, which has forced more than 65,000 asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait for U.S. immigration court hearings.
The Biden administration has not said what will happen to migrants already enrolled in the program, but DHS stated in its announcement last week they should “remain where they are” and await further U.S. government instruction.
In addition, Biden plans to roll back a Trump rule that sought to block asylum seekers who pass through another country en route to the United States, the person said.
Biden will also direct U.S. agencies to create strategies to address the root causes of migration from Central America and expand opportunities for migrants to come to the United States legally, the memo said.
Biden is eventually expected to scrap asylum agreements struck by the Trump administration with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, three people close to the Biden transition told Reuters last month. Whether he will take that step on Friday remains unclear.
REUNITING FAMILIES SEPARATED BY TRUMP
Biden will create a task force to reunite migrant families who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by Trump’s immigration policies.
Parties in a lawsuit over the separations have been unable to reach the parents of more than 600 children, according to a court filing this month.
REVIEW OF THE LEGAL IMMIGRATION SYSTEM
Biden is expected to issue an executive order that would remove barriers to legal immigration and citizenship.
As part of that effort, the order will begin the process of rescinding Trump’s so-called “public charge” rule, which makes it harder for immigrants who are poor or need certain government benefits to secure residency and stay in the country, according to two people familiar with the plans.
CHANGES TO THE REFUGEE PROGRAM
Biden is expected to lay out principles that will guide his administration’s global refugee policy.
He has pledged to raise annual refugee intake levels to 125,000, up from the record-low 15,000-person ceiling set by Trump for fiscal year 2021, which began on Oct. 1, 2020.
Biden is not expected to immediately raise the refugee limit. Instead, the Biden administration will follow a formal process that involves consulting with Congress, according to two people familiar with the plan.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin and Aurora Ellis)
