This Issue: Biden signs several immigration orders on day one protecting illegal aliens and sanctuary cities

Pres. Joe Biden said he would send immigration legislation to Congress on his first day in office. While we've seen an outline of what that legislation could look like (more details here), legislation has yet to be introduced.

Still, Biden signed a slew of executive orders on his first day in office that directly impact immigration. What's troubling is that with tens of millions of Americans who have lost work and wages since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Administration's first actions focused on helping illegal aliens rather than helping American workers who have suffered over the past year.

Here's a look at the orders signed by Pres. Biden:

INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT -- Biden's most significant immigration order terminated Trump's interior enforcement executive order that established priorities for deportation and ordered the withholding of certain federal funds from sanctuary cities, among other things. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, David Pekoske, followed up on the order by issuing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations that goes into effect today.

Biden's order is a loud and clear message sent to most illegal aliens living in the United States that as long as they don't commit a serious crime, there's zero chance that they'll face any consequences for violating the nation's immigration laws, at least while Biden is in office.

TRAVEL BAN -- To no one's surprise, Biden signed an order that terminated Trump's travel ban for a number of terror-sponsoring countries.

The Trump Administration's reasoning behind the order was that the Department of Homeland Security can't fully vet new visitors from the countries on the list, thus posing a threat to national security. Interestingly, the Trump Administration used a list created by the Obama Administration to draw up the order.

BORDER FENCING -- Also to no one's surprise, Biden signed an order that immediately paused construction of any border fencing and terminated Trump's national emergency declaration that allowed his administration to transfer unused funds from other agencies to help build border fencing.

While Biden's order stops the transfer of funds for border fence construction, Congress did appropriate funds to be spent in FY2021 to build and repair border fencing, so we'll have to see what Biden decides to do with those funds.

REMAIN IN MEXICO -- The Biden Administration also ended Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy that requires asylum seekers who present themselves at the Southern border to wait in Mexico until their court date. The policy was crucial to slowing the 2019 border surge. It remains to be seen how the Biden Administration would handle a surge should one occur.

CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENT -- Biden signed an order that rescinded Trump's order to exclude illegal aliens from Congressional apportionment following the 2020 Census.

Illegal aliens have been counted as part of previous Congressional Apportionment efforts, and there's no doubt that states with higher illegal alien populations have more representation in Congress than state's with smaller illegal alien populations.

LIBERIAN DED -- Biden signed an executive order extending Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for individuals from Liberia. DED is similar to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) -- recipients are protected from deportation and can receive a work permit -- and like TPS, it's far from temporary.

Trump tried to end DED for Liberians and TPS for several countries, but most of those orders had been blocked by the courts.

FUTURE ORDERS

We expect several more immigration orders to be signed by Pres. Biden before the end of the month that would roll back most of Trump's actions to combat asylum fraud and reduce the risk of border surges.

Chris Chmielenski NumbersUSA Deputy Director