Comparing President Biden and President Trump's immigration policies: a closer look

President Biden and President TrumpPhoto byTwitter

For close to two years, President Joe Biden didn’t provide States with many resources and options when it came to handling migrants who crossed the southern border. As Biden heads into his third year in office, he rolled out several policy initiatives dealing with immigrants and migrants.

The reaction to the policies has been good as well as bad. Here is a look at what different segments of the population think about Biden’s immigration policies. Some even compare them to former President Donald Trump.

As the COVID-era policy Title 42 is expected to end in May, President Biden announced several initiatives to help manage migrants who request asylum.

The Transit Ban

In February, the Biden administration announced the “Transit Ban”. This policy requires migrants to declare asylum in another country before they crossed the southern border.

Director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International Yael Schacher said:

“We are moving toward a system where it is going to be much more difficult for anyone who crosses the border without authorization to get asylum.”

“We will never go back to what it was before Trump. That’s what it feels like.”

Democratic Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York said in a statement:

“I am deeply outraged by the Biden Administration’s proposed ban on asylum seekers.” Our immigration policies already fall short in supporting asylum-seekers, but this ban would go further by attacking the very bedrock of our most basic commitment to asylum.”

This policy won’t begin until May.

Requesting parole

Under Biden, about 700,000 migrants have crossed into the United States over the past two years. President Biden established a parole system where migrants who left Afghanistan, Ukraine, Venezuela, and other countries, that allows them to stay for two years. After that, it requires paperwork to stay longer.

This two-year system is confusing for migrants and could leave a new President to change the law if elected in 2024.

Greg Chen, Senior Director of Government Relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said:

"Parole is an important mechanism, but it has to be viewed as a temporary measure. And that puts the pressure back on, first, Congress."

Biden and Trump's immigration policies

Title 42 was created by President Donald Trump. This policy was to limit immigrants from entering the United States due to COVID-19. Last December, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to keep the policy in place.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the policy director at the American Immigration Council said:

“Border policy has changed less than most people think, but probably more than some advocates would like to admit. The Biden Administration has largely kept the Trump Administration's biggest border policy, Title 42, in effect. However, they have made a series of changes to treat people who cannot be expelled under Title 42 with a far less punitive, less harsh mind-set.”

30,000 migrants a month

In January right before President Biden visited El Paso to see the border crisis up close, he announced limiting the number of migrants to 30,000 people who can claim asylum. This of course brought backlash from 22 States.

Biden’s policy only allows migrants from four countries who can request asylum at the southern border. The four countries are Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

An immigrant reflects on Trump and Biden’s policies

Estuardo Cifuentes works for a non-profit in Texas but came to the country under the Trump administration. The migrant compares Biden transit ban as another barrier preventing migrants from entering the country.

Cifuentes said:

“None of this would have been possible, though, under new asylum rules proposed by President Joe Biden. The administration has announced its intentions to create a "transit ban," which blocks asylum seekers from gaining sanctuary in the United States if they pass through any other country on their way here. It’s a rekindling of Trump-era asylum policies, and one that makes it far harder for people like me to reach safety.”

These and other immigration policies make Biden’s policy very similar to his predecessor, Donald Trump.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott criticizes Biden's policies.

Do you think Biden’s immigration policies are the same as Donald Trump?