Biden's Immigration Laws: Breaking The Rules?

There have been several claims that President Joe Biden is breaking immigration laws. Since taking office, Biden has been accused of giving work permits to millions of migrants who are not legally allowed to be in America. In addition, Biden has been accused of incentivizing and rewarding illegal immigration by allowing certain classifications of illegal aliens to gain permanent residency status while remaining in the United States. However, Biden has also taken actions to secure the border, including deploying record numbers of law enforcement personnel and technology to the Southern border, and seizing record amounts of fentanyl at ports of entry.

Biden's administration has given work permits to millions of migrants

The Biden administration has been accused of breaking immigration laws by granting work permits to millions of migrants. Since Biden took office, over 3.3 million migrants have been given federal work permits, despite many not having the legal right to be in the country. As of February 2024, there were 1.4 million pending work permit applications.

In many cases, migrants are given the right to work before being granted asylum, a green card, or other legal documentation. This goes against the 1996 rule that required asylum seekers to wait 180 days before applying for work. Asylum is intended for those fleeing persecution, not those seeking better jobs.

The Biden administration has expanded admissions and created new admission pipelines under eight distinct programs, including population transfers from Afghanistan and Ukraine, and "family reunification" programs from several countries. These programs have allowed about 2.3 million people to enter with only cursory health and background vetting.

In 2022, 1.279 million work permits were issued, rising to 2.139 million in 2023, and 2024 is on track to exceed 3.3 million. Most of these permits were given to parolees, who are not considered lawful immigrants and cannot obtain green cards or legal permanent residency.

The Biden administration has also taken steps to ease the process for asylum seekers to obtain work permits. In December 2024, the administration extended temporary legal status to 472,000 Venezuelans in the US, making it easier for them to obtain work permits. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security sent over 1 million text messages urging migrants to apply for work permits and reduced the application wait time to 30 days.

In June 2024, President Biden announced a new program allowing certain spouses of US citizens to apply for "parole-in-place" from the Department of Homeland Security. This program will enable up to 550,000 people to receive temporary protections and work permits, and apply for lawful permanent resident status without risking prolonged separation from their families.

The Biden administration's parole-in-place policy is being challenged in court

On June 18, 2024, President Joe Biden announced a new program that would allow certain spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for "parole-in-place" from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This program would allow undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to remain in the country temporarily and protect them from deportation while they work towards other immigration benefits. The program's primary goal is to keep mixed-status families together and offer stability during uncertain immigration processes. This expansion of the parole-in-place policy has been challenged in court by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who led a coalition of 16 states and America First Legal to sue the DHS, arguing that the new rule violates the United States Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act, and existing federal law.

The parole-in-place policy, introduced in 2007, initially focused on providing relief to immediate family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel. In 2013, the Obama Administration expanded the policy to include veterans and reservists' family members. Under the Biden Administration, the program has been significantly expanded to include undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens, marking a shift from its original military focus to a broader humanitarian goal. This expansion has been met with legal challenges, with Texas and 15 other states filing a lawsuit to block the expanded program.

The Biden Administration's parole-in-place policy aims to address the difficulties faced by spouses of U.S. citizens who are unable to obtain permanent residency due to bureaucratic obstacles and the risk of separation from their families. The new program will allow up to 550,000 people to receive temporary protections and work permits, and apply for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status through their spouses without leaving the country. This is in contrast to current U.S. law, which requires immigrants to leave the country and obtain a new immigrant visa to re-enter, often triggering a years-long bar on re-entry.

The legal battle over the parole-in-place policy has resulted in uncertainty for applicants, as federal courts issued an order preventing USCIS from approving any applications while continuing to accept them. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is currently reviewing the case, and the future of the expanded program remains uncertain. The outcome of the legal challenge will have significant implications for mixed-status families and the Biden Administration's efforts to keep families together.

The number of migrants entering the US has increased under Biden

The number of migrants entering the US has increased under President Biden. In fact, the US southern border has witnessed a record of at least 6.3 million migrant encounters since Biden took office in January 2021, with more than 2.4 million migrants allowed into the country.

The Biden administration has taken 535 immigration actions in its first three years, outpacing the 472 immigration-related executive actions undertaken during the entirety of President Trump's term. The speed of these executive actions is partly a response to the continued inaction in Congress, which has not passed a major immigration overhaul in nearly three decades.

While Biden has been accused of inaction by critics, his administration has been the most active on immigration issues to date. The increase in migration numbers can be attributed to global push factors such as war, violence, instability, human rights abuses, natural disasters, poverty, and economic spirals. Pull factors include a US labor market with millions of job openings, as well as difficulties in speedily returning migrants who are ineligible to stay.

In response to the record number of migrants, the Biden administration has implemented a series of ""carrot-and-stick" measures at the border, incentivizing arrivals at official ports of entry and discouraging irregular crossings. Despite these efforts, irregular arrivals have remained high, and processing has proven challenging for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Biden administration has also focused on interior enforcement, with the Supreme Court reviving a major policy allowing the use of enforcement guidelines that prioritize the arrest and removal of non-citizens who pose a threat to public safety, national security, or border security.

In terms of deportations, the Biden administration deported more than 271,000 immigrants in the last fiscal year, surpassing the record set by the Trump administration. However, this was partly due to improved diplomatic efforts in convincing countries to take back more deportees, as well as increased enforcement by Mexican authorities to clamp down on the flow of migrants headed to the US border.

Biden has called on Congress to address the broken immigration system

Since his first day in office, President Biden has called on Congress to address the broken immigration system. He has implemented several measures to secure the border, including deploying record numbers of law enforcement personnel and technology to the southern border, seizing record amounts of fentanyl at ports of entry, and expanding efforts to dismantle human smuggling networks.

One of the key focuses of Biden's immigration policies is keeping families together. To that end, he has announced a new program that will allow certain spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for "parole-in-place" from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This program will enable up to 550,000 people to receive temporary protections and work permits, and eventually apply for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status, without having to risk years of separation from their families.

The Biden administration recognizes the challenges faced by spouses of U.S. citizens who entered the country "without inspection." Under current law, these individuals face significant obstacles in obtaining permanent residency through their spouses, often having to leave the country and face prolonged separation from their families. The new parole program addresses this issue by allowing eligible individuals to apply for adjustment of status within the United States, providing a more straightforward path to permanent residency.

However, the Biden administration's immigration policies have also faced criticism. Some argue that the administration is circumventing the nation's immigration laws by granting work permits to migrants in record numbers. There are concerns that migrants are being given the right to work before being granted asylum or legal documentation to stay in the country. Additionally, there are claims that the administration's "parole-in-place" policy incentivizes and rewards illegal immigration by granting permanent residency status to certain illegal aliens while remaining in the United States, which is in violation of federal law.

Biden's administration has expanded efforts to dismantle human smuggling networks

Human smuggling has become a critical law enforcement and border security challenge, with transnational criminal organizations exploiting migrants and profiting from the multibillion-dollar industry. These organizations are often affiliated with violent drug cartels and transnational gangs. The Biden administration has expanded efforts to dismantle human smuggling networks, committing over $50 million and deploying over 1,300 personnel in Latin America and along the Southwest Border.

The interagency effort, led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is focused on five pillars of criminal operations. Operation Expanded Impact involves an enhanced investigative effort led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with over 700 additional personnel supporting DHS enforcement efforts. Operation Sentinel identifies human smugglers and their associates to restrict their ability to travel, conduct commerce, or finance their operations. Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) is a law enforcement task force led by the Department of Justice and supported by DHS, focusing on the investigation and prosecution of prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking networks in Mexico and the Northern Triangle. The Financial Disruption pillar, led by the Treasury Department, identifies opportunities to disrupt human smuggler financial assets. Finally, the Intelligence Community (IC) pillar enhances support through the Migration Crises Cell, providing improved indications and warnings of illegal migrant movements and identifying human smuggling networks.

In the first two months of the campaign, over 1,300 personnel executed nearly 30,000 law enforcement actions to disrupt and dismantle human smuggling organizations in Latin America. They have worked with international partners to attack these smuggling gangs, seizing financial assets, raiding stash houses, and impounding vehicles used to smuggle people. Nearly 2,000 smugglers have been arrested in the last eight weeks, representing a 600% increase in law enforcement actions against human smuggling organizations compared to previous years.

The Biden administration's efforts have led to changes in the tactics of these organizations. They have changed routes, shifted stash house locations away from the border, increased prices, and no longer guarantee passage at the border. DHS estimates that these disruption efforts are slowing, stopping, or reversing the flow of approximately 900 migrants each day. The administration remains committed to putting these organizations out of business and working with regional partners to end human smuggling.

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