The latest on LIRS news, upcoming events, media mentions, and more.
** Welcome to a special edition of This Week at LIRS!
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This week, we're looking back on the first 100 days of the Biden administration and its impact on immigration and refugee policy.
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As we look back on President Biden’s first 100 days in office, we want to take the time to acknowledge all that has changed in the immigration and refugee space—and look forward to a brighter future for all those who seek refuge in the United States.
We’ll be honest: four years of the previous administration left the immigration system damaged and demoralized. But since his first day in office, President Biden has demonstrated his commitment to immigration reform, making clear that this issue is a top priority for his administration. In his first month as President, he signed 10 executive orders addressing several of LIRS’ Top Ten Policy Priorities ([link removed]) —including ending discriminatory travel bans and accelerating efforts to reunite separated families.
The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, introduced in Congress in February, aims to take that work even further by addressing root causes of migration, particularly from Central America, and laying out an enforcement plan and policies that broaden legal migration avenues – such as green cards for DACA and TPS recipients from disaster-ravaged nations, a path to citizenship for the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, and a reduction of the visa backlog for family-based visas, among other provisions.
We are encouraged by the momentum, but there is so much more to be done. The next 100 days will be even more critical, and we call upon LIRS supporters to join us in advocating for just, humane immigration policy and the restoration of the resettlement system. President Biden can only do so much; so we call on Congress, too, to act to pass the Citizenship Act and several other critical pieces of legislation. We invite you to raise your voice ([link removed]) at the local, state, and national level to restore welcome in the United States and honor our Biblical mandate to welcome the stranger.
** Top 5 Notable Presidential Actions in the
First 100 Days
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1. On February 4, 2021, President Biden took an historic step to improve and strengthen the U.S. refugee resettlement program by signing the “Executive Order on Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration ([link removed]) .” The order was notable, as it linked the issues of climate change and migration and committed to resettling 125,000 refugees in fiscal year 2022. LIRS applauded ([link removed]) the decision, indicating that “we stand ready to rise to the laudable challenge of restoring refugee resettlement to historic norms and beyond.”
2. In keeping with his campaign promise, President Biden repealed the Muslim and Refugee Ban by executive action, lifting restrictions on travel and immigration from predominantly Muslim-majority and African nations. LIRS CEO Krish O'Mara Vignarajah heralded the move, announcing ([link removed]) that “the Biden administration has renewed our faith in America as a welcoming nation by ending this harmful, racist ban.”
3. In the first 100 days, the Biden administration has designated two countries for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Venezuela ([link removed]) and Burma ([link removed]) . It also redesignated TPS for Syria, which expands the protection for more newly arrived Syrians. Temporary Protected Status provides life-saving protection from deportation and work authorization for people who were already in the United States when conditions in their country made it unsafe to return.
4. In March, the White House announced the reopening of the Central American Minors (CAM) program for children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The program was created to provide a safer process for vulnerable children fleeing violence to reunify with family in the U.S., and LIRS was an implementing partner until its abrupt cancellation in 2017. Read our statement on its reopening. ([link removed])
5. The Biden administration ended the Migration Protection Protocols, also known as Remain in Mexico, which prevented tens of thousands of asylum seekers from entering the U.S. Since February 19, people who have active court cases and have been waiting in Mexico for months (some for more than a year) are now being admitted to the U.S. LIRS was one of 60 non-governmental organizations that strongly opposed ([link removed]) Remain in Mexico when it was first implemented in 2019.
** Top 5 Actions We Want to See in the
Next 100 Days
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1. While the President’s February Executive Order renewed hope for many, it did not provide immediate relief for tens of thousands of people seeking safety who have already been approved for resettlement. Sadly, we have seen dreams of reunification with family put on hold, flights cancelled, and communities ready to receive having to stand down. We encourage you to join us ([link removed]) in calling for President Biden to restore welcome in the United States.
2. The administration should continue to end categorical exclusions of persons seeking entry to the United States, particularly those seeking safety. The President should rescind Title 42 ([link removed]) , which has been in place since March 2020 and has cruelly expelled thousands to danger. Mounting evidence indicates the number of arrivals of unaccompanied children at the Southern border is a result of this policy, making it all the more urgent.
3. The President has stated that he intends to expand humanitarian protections for people who are unable to return to their country due to war, natural disaster, or other conditions that make return unsafe. While we have been encouraged by the new designations of TPS for Burma and Venezuela, the administration should extend Temporary Protective Status protections to all countries that qualify. LIRS recently joined over 300 organizations ([link removed]) in making this request.
4. When the Biden administration reopened the CAM program, it did so in two phases. Immediately, it prioritized processing applications that had already been filed and were being processed before the program was shut down in 2017. The next phase is to reopen the program to new applications. We encourage the administration to urgently enhance and expand the CAM program, as this next step will offer a critical tool to reduce the incidence of children making the dangerous journey from Central America to the United States alone.
5. LIRS is encouraged that the administration is ending the asylum cooperative agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, which limited the ability of asylum seekers to seek safety in the U.S. We urge the administration to continue to its efforts to reverse the immoral and illegal polices of the previous administration, including those that bar victims of gang and domestic violence and members of the LGBTQ community from being eligible to apply for asylum.
** Coming Up
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Welcome back to LIRS Culture Kitchen! On May 6 at 6 p.m., we're cooking with Virginia Ali, one of the founder's of Ben's Chili Bowl along with her daughter Vida. Together, we'll talk about the how the Ali family started one of the most well-known D.C. restaurants over 60 years ago while cooking tasty Trinidadian curry.
Register now. ([link removed])
Join LIRS on May 23 at 4 p.m. ET for our first annual Stand Up, Speak Up Spring Vigil. Together with hundreds of interfaith communities across the country, we will examine our roles as compassionate friends and justice-seekers through prayer, reflection, and stories from migrant and refugee families.
Register today. ([link removed])
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE ([link removed]) to our YouTube channel!
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