Here’s a breakdown of the latest on the Biden administration’s immigration efforts and the challenges ahead:

What Biden can do to help the migrant families separated under Trump. The most notorious of Donald Trump’s immigration policies may be the toughest to completely undo, advocates and lawyers told USA Today. It’s been two and a half years since Trump announced the end of widespread family separations at the border and still, USA Today notes, “more than 600 families remain separated and the parents' whereabouts unknown, according to court filings. Of those, more than 300 were deported and have been difficult to locate.” According to USA Today, options open to Biden include a pathway to citizenship specifically for families who were separated, an end to the ongoing practice of separating children from parents in certain limited cases, and a more complete accounting of those responsible for Trump’s zero-tolerance policy. “This policy was so inhumane and such a stain on the United States that we simply can’t move on until we have a full accounting,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project.

A judge has temporarily blocked Biden’s 100-day deportation freeze. Last week, the administration issued a 100-day freeze on deportations for immigrants not deemed a danger to the public and present in the U.S. before Nov. 1, as the Department of Homeland Security, under new leadership, reviews its current policies. But on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton signed a temporary restraining order against the moratorium, ruling in favor of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton’s office filed a lawsuit that challenged Biden's 100-day pause, arguing that it violated federal law. The suit also claims that the policy violates an agreement made between the Department of Homeland Security and the state of Texas days before Trump left office, which “required DHS to give Texas notice and an opportunity to comment at least 180 days before making any chances to immigration enforcement policies,” according to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy expert at the American Immigration Council. It’s likely the Biden administration will appeal the ruling.

The new administration might handle immigration reform piece by piece. As we explained last week, Biden sent lawmakers a sweeping immigration bill that would pave an eight-year pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants and provide funds to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in an effort to reduce corruption and poverty in those countries. White House sources are now telling Politico that the new administration is open to tackling reform in smaller legislative packages, as long as there is progress. “We aren’t saying you have to pass the Biden bill,” one source said. “But we are saying this is what we want to do and we are planning to move legalization forward.” Some Senate Republicans have already expressed opposition to Biden’s immigration bill because it would grant what they call “amnesty” to millions of undocumented immigrants. “There are many issues I think we can work cooperatively with President-elect Biden, but a blanket amnesty for people who are here unlawfully isn’t going to be one of them,” said Sen. Marco Rubio from Florida. While the Democrats control the Senate, Republicans could block any bill through the filibuster. 

In other developments from the Biden White House: The new administration is also proposing that Congress remove the term “alien” from federal immigration law, and replace it with “noncitizen.” Some in Congress have previously proposed eliminating the word “alien,”  including Rep. Joaquín Castro in 2015.

"How we describe people really sticks. It affects how we treat them," the journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas told CNN. "How we talk about immigrants shapes the policies. It frames what are the issues really at stake here. It acknowledges that we're talking about human beings and families."

Fact-based journalism is worth fighting for.

IMMIGRANTS FACE OBSTACLES IN ACCESSING COVID-19 VACCINE

Across the country, immigrant rights groups are noting signs of resistance and fear surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine within immigrant communities. Some immigrants are worried the personal information they provide at an appointment might be shared with immigration authorities. Others are facing challenges accessing the vaccine due to language barriers, or are concerned about possible side effects. 

According to the Associated Press, immigrant advocates and health care nonprofits are going to farm fields with vaccines and information to combat the misinformation that’s growing on social media. Some organizations are also sharing information on how to get tested for the virus on WhatsApp in Spanish and other languages.

The 19th News is reporting that immigrant women in particular face additional challenges in accessing the vaccine: “They often have hourly jobs with low wages, and no guarantee of paid leave or child care, which makes it harder for them to access distributed vaccination sites with fixed hours. Job site-based vaccinations — one approach that could address issues with time off and transportation — are virtually impossible for them, given they often work in decentralized industries such as home care or domestic labor.”

3 THINGS WE’RE READING

1. Immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries welcome Biden’s reversal of a Trump era order that shut them out of the U.S. (The New York Times)

For many, however, the reversal came too late. 

The kicker: But then the pandemic struck and in November Ms. (Negar) Rahmani’s 56-year-old mother in Iran was hospitalized with Covid-19, leaving her daughter with an agonizing dilemma. If Ms. Rahmani, 26, flew home she risked being shut out of the United States for good. But her mother’s condition was deteriorating rapidly. Torn, she wavered for two weeks until the disease intervened, and her mother died. Now Ms. Rahmani is wracked by different feelings, she said in an interview: regret at not going home while her mother was alive, and a deep contempt for Mr. Trump and the immense pain his policy had caused her. “I feel like I have been in a cage for four years,” she said, breaking into sobs. “I could have gone back every summer. My mom could have visited me. I feel the travel ban in my bones and skin.”

2. Despite sexual harassment complaints filed against them, immigration judges remained on the bench. Some were even promoted. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Immigration judges accused of sexual harassment or other inappropriate courtroom behavior face little to no consequences for their actions, according to a new investigation by the Chronicle, which found that “the problems have festered for years” due to a lack of oversight at the U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the immigration court system.

The kicker: Michelle Mendez of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, which provides legal representation to immigrants and helps attorneys report allegations of judicial misconduct, said lawyers face tremendous pressure not to call out judges’ bad behavior, even though they know ignoring it means it is likely to continue. “An immigration judge might retaliate against the advocate by punishing her clients — and these are people fleeing persecution, rape and even death,” Mendez said. “It’s quite literally a Sophie’s choice that should never happen in the American legal system.” The Trump administration did little to change the pattern, The Chronicle found, and in one case even promoted a judge who many women have said made them feel uncomfortable in open court and behind the scenes for years. Justice Department data shows the administration dismissed more complaints against judges than its predecessor.

3. In the last decade, more than 1 million undocumented immigrants who spent years in the U.S. have returned to Mexico. (The New York Times) 

Between June 2018 and June 2019, the Times interviewed 430 immigrants who were either deported or chose to return to Mexico. They include a college student who was deported shortly after paying off student loans and an advocate who helped other undocumented youth apply for protection from deportation. 

The kicker: Many of those who return face a different kind of stigmatization in Mexico. They are often singled out for the way they dress; teased for their halting, accented Spanish; and stereotyped as arrogant, as failures, as criminals. Disoriented and overwhelmed by culture shock and the trauma of being separated from their families in the United States, most suffer from anxiety and depression. Some find the resilience to start over and pursue new dreams in Mexico.

Your tips have been vital to our immigration coverage. Keep them coming: [email protected]. 

– Laura C. Morel and Patrick Michels