Happy Presidents' Day, everyone! Last week I wrote about what the current U.S. President hasn't and can't do, but today, in the interests of a day dedicated to the leaders of the U.S., I want to discuss what the current U.S. President has done that actually results in some positive change. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will soon present to the U.S. Congress his proposal for the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, but before he does so, we should focus on some executive actions that he believes don't require the consent of the U.S. Congress and that he's taken already.
Executive actions taken by President Joseph Biden:
- Rescinding the interior-enforcement order previously in place and instead, calling for a review so that enforcement priorities may be established (note that the deportation moratorium that was ordered by U.S. President Biden is currently on hold by a federal judge);
- Begin rolling back the new "public charge" rule to what it was previously;
- Including undocumented immigrants in the census;
- Reversing the travel ban affecting particular Muslim and African nations;
- Protecting, in a memorandum, Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals ("DACA");
- Stopping, in a proclamation, construction of the border wall and even successfully asking the U.S. Supreme Court to cancel oral argument regarding the U.S. government's petition from an appellate court's ruling to stop the construction;
- Reinstating, in a memorandum, deferred enforced departure ("DED") for Liberians;
- Ending the remain-in-Mexico policy, part of the Migrant Protection Protocols ("MPP"), for asylum seekers seeking entry at the U.S.'s southern border and even successfully asking the U.S. Supreme Court to cancel oral argument regarding the U.S. government's petition from an appellate court's ruling to stop such a policy;
- Rebuilding the U.S. refugee-resettlement program;
- Reuniting family members separated at the border; and
- Freezing proposed or finalized regulations that have not yet gone into effect, including the regulation that would replace the H-1B-lottery system with a system where only the highest paid H-1B beneficiaries would be eligible (was supposed to go into effect March 9th) and the regulation that required H-1B beneficiaries to be paid higher than U.S. workers (was supposed to go into effect March 15th).
Therefore, there's a lot that has already taken place, and there's even more that can be done even if the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 never sees the light of day in the U.S. Congress. For now, those who believe they may be able to benefit from the changes that have taken place thus far should dive into the details of the various executive actions, preferably with the assistance of a legal expert.