This Issue: Biden Admin. takes action to protect illegal aliens

Fri, Apr. 30^th

The Biden Administration took several steps to roll back interior enforcement this week, including restarting grants for jurisdictions that protect illegal aliens.

While Pres. Biden kickstarted another push to pass his massive comprehensive amnesty bill -- the U.S. Citizenship Act -- during his Wednesday night address before a joint session of Congress, the administration is working at a feverish pace behind the scenes to undo much of Donald Trump's administrative reforms, as well as some that were in place pre-Trump.

Here's a list of some actions the Administration took this week:

REWARD SANCTUARY CITIES

The Department of Justice announced this week that it was restarting federal law enforcement grants to sanctuary jurisdictions. Suspending funding for these jurisdictions was a top priority for the previous administration, but as a candidate, Pres. Biden did pledge to protect sanctuary policies.

According to an internal memo obtained by Reuters, in order to receive up to $250 million of law enforcement grants, jurisdictions "will no longer be required to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a condition of their funding."

Like most of Trump's executive actions on immigration, activists challenged the sanctuary policy in court, but unlike most of Trump's actions, the policy was upheld by multiple federal courts, including the more Trump-adverse 9th circuit court of appeals.

ANOTHER DELAY TO REAL ID

The Department of Homeland Security announced another delay to the full implementation of REAL ID. The law, passed by Congress in response to the 9/11 attacks, would make it more difficult for illegal aliens to board planes and enter federal facilities.

The REAL ID identification requirements took more than a decade to implement and were supposed to go into effect in 2018. The Trump Administration delayed the implementation until this fall because of the pandemic, and now the Biden Administration has delayed implementation until May 3, 2023 also citing the pandemic.

The law was passed in 2005.

LIMIT ICE ENFORCEMENT

DHS also announced this week a new policy that restricts Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from enforcing immigration laws in or near a courthouse unless it's a matter of national security.

While the announcement may not appear to be a big deal, if ICE can't detain removable aliens at the courthouse, where they know the alien is unarmed, they instead have to go to their houses or workplaces, where they very well may be armed and involve family members and/or other employees.

As the list of public places that ICE can operate grows, there will be fewer and fewer places where immigration laws can actually be enforced.

FINES FOR VISA OVERSTAYS

Finally, the Biden Administration eliminated fines for nonimmigrants who overstay their visas. In the announcement, USCIS said it found that there was "no indication that these penalties promoted compliance."

USCIS failed to announce what would promote compliance of nonimmigrants honoring the terms of their visa.

Chris Chmielenski
NumbersUSA Deputy Director

ONLY 14% WANT LESS ENFORCEMENT: See the green line of voters saying they want less immigration enforcement, which is the policy of the Biden Administration. For more than 70 weeks, Rasmussen Reports has polled on the question of "is the government doing too much or too little to reduce illegal border crossings and visitor overstays?" Responses have changed sharply as the President has revealed his enforcement policies (see the memo on the right).

In the latest polling, the split of ALL LIKELY VOTERS is:

57% Too little
14% Too much

Both men and women agree, the feds need to do more.

% Support vs. % Opposed

59%-14% Men
55%-15% Women

A high number of Independents and Republicans also agree.

62%-11% Independents
74%-14% Republicans

Actually, Yeah, Why Don't They Just Get in Line?

Jared Culver

Tue, Apr. 27^th

On Wednesday, the House subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, held a hearing oddly entitled "Why Don't They Just Get in Line? Barriers to Legal Immigration." You may think this is a waste of time and certainly I forgive the sentiment. However, there is always opportunity to learn even in the darkest of times.

Australians Benefit from Closed Borders

AMY BOYLAN

Wed, Apr. 28^th

When Australia closed its borders in response to the coronavirus, many politicians and members of the media were predicting doom and gloom for the economy. And then a not-so-remarkable thing happened. Without an economy artificially juiced on immigration, Australians began to see gains for themselves as per capita GDP began to rise and unemployed workers began to rejoin the workforce. This is a story that deserves a lot more attention.

Biden Admin. Rewards Sanctuary Cities, Re-Opens Federal Grants

Wed, Apr. 28^th

The Department of Justice has repealed an extremely effective policy put in place during Donald Trump's presidency that restricted hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to Sanctuary Cities.

DHS Pushes Back Full Enforcement Date for REAL ID, Again.

Tue, Apr. 27^th

According to a press release from the Department of Homeland Security, DHS is extending the REAL ID full enforcement date by an additional 19 months - from October 1, 2021, to May 3, 2023.

Biden Urges Congress to Approve Amnesty, blames Trump for Border Crisis

Chris Chmielenski

Wed, Apr. 28^th

In his first address before a joint session of Congress, Pres. Biden urged the few Members in attendance to approve his massive immigration reform bill that would grant amnesty to more than 11 million illegal aliens and triple the number of green cards issued over the next decade. As for the ongoing crisis at the southern border, where a record number of unaccompanied alien children have been apprehended crossing the border illegally, Biden took no responsibility and instead blamed the surge on conditions in Central America and Donald Trump.