UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE NUEVO LEÓN

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS
POLÍTICAS Y
RELACIONES INTERNACIONALES

International Law

Teacher: Tuur Ghys

PIA:
Case study: Which immigration policies represent a fair and humane system,
Trump’s or Biden’s?

Estefanía Martín Román 2082252

Paola González Rodríguez 2082237

May 19, 2023.

Migration is a major topic that has been vastly relevant all around the world for the past few decades.

Immigrants flee their country of origin for a number of different reasons, these are called “push” and

“pull” factors. Push factors are the reasons why immigrants leave their home country; being war or

political crisis, organized crime/violence, poverty, and environmental factors. On the other hand, pull

factors refer to the reasons why immigrants decide to arrive in the guest country; these are: new and

unique work opportunities, cultural identification, better treatment, and the romanticization of the

country. However, there are (of course) countries that receive more immigrants than others; one of

these countries is the USA, in which more than 1 million immigrants on average are received each

year. In this essay some of the immigration policies of presidents Trump and Biden will be analyzed

and compared to conclude then which one is more humane.

Despite being the country that receives the most immigrants each year, the USA has had

many controversies regarding their migration policies. Current president Joe Biden vowed to radically

change former president Donald Trump’s popular immigration policies and actions taken during his

presidential term; the Biden White House promised a more "humane" approach, while the Trump

administration had implemented a harder strategy. Regardless, Biden has been severely criticized

since his policies are being called “unnecessarily harsh”.

Almost thirty years ago a significant piece of legislation known as the Illegal Immigration

Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, or IIRIRA, was signed into law by President Bill Clinton

in 1996. Its objective was to lower the number of undocumented immigrants, but what actually

happened was the opposite.

IIRIRA expanded the list of offenses that might lead to deportation, coupled with other

regulations from 1996, and laid the groundwork for succeeding legislation that expanded the grounds

for deportation. The number of undocumented immigrants living in the US increased as a result of

these restrictions, which encouraged people to stay there without authorization.

Considering the impact of IIRIRA, Donald Trump's suggestion to build a wall along the

border between the United States and Mexico was guided by the law previously mentioned. As may

be seen, Subtitle A "Improving Border Enforcement" of Title I, Improving Border Control,

Facilitating Legal Entry, and Enforcement, specifically mentions the construction of physical barriers.

Stronger enforcement is ineffective at stopping illegal immigration, because the causes of migration to

the US remain the same.

The Trump administration had always been open about their migration policies, considered by

many as “racist”, “xenophobic”, and “supremacist”. Besides the infamous wall president Trump

promised to build in order to prevent more Mexican immigrants from getting into the United States ,

he stated: “We want strong borders, and without borders you don’t have a country.” According to

Trump, vulnerable migrants were mounting “an invasion”. The asylum system in the U.S was

“ridiculous and insane”, contradicting a core principle of the country’s humanitarian beliefs. Mexican

immigrants were referred to as drug dealers, criminals, and rapists. Immigrants of color made news

for supposedly coming from “filthy” nations.

On the other hand, the Biden administration vowed for a more humane approach, which has

been questioned because of the methods that have been used, and the recent immigrants crisis with the

Mexican border. Nonetheless, Biden chose to keep defending Title 42 (a controversial statute meant

as a public health measure), which was invoked by the Trump administration in March of 2020.

Between January 2021 and March 2023, more than 2.28 million persons were expelled from the U.S

using the jurisdiction of Title 42. Some Democrats and immigration advocates contend that the

actions taken after Title 42 violate international refugee law.

According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), people who cross the border illegally

will be deported, prohibited from entering the US for at least five years, and "presumed ineligible for

asylum." So, is the Biden White House simply a more politically correct Trump 2.0 on immigration?

(The Guardian, 2023)

Now, there’s also DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which is a policy that

supports roughly 800,000 teens known as “Dreamers” who entered the United States illegally while

they were minors. This program enables said teens to apply for a driver’s license, social security

number, and work permits but does not provide them with official legal status or a path to an american

citizenship.
 The Obama administration was criticized by Donald Trump for executive overreach in

establishing the DACA program and prioritizing the deportation of criminals, security threats, and

border crossers. The Trump administration ended DACA in 2017 and reduced the number of people

in temporary protected status and refugee resettlement programs. Its primary goal was the expulsion

of all immigrants "with questionable status" (Abrego 2017), which had severe negative effects on

people's lives, society, and the economy. (Warren and Kerwin 2017)

In opposition, president Biden signed an executive order in January 2021, just when he

assumed charge, instructing federal agencies to "preserve and fortify DACA." While not immediately

affecting the status of current grantees, a federal judge in Texas declared DACA to be unlawful in

July 2021 and said the Biden administration could not approve any new applications. The decision

was deemed "deeply disappointing" by Vice President Biden. A rule for the DACA program was

finalized by the Biden Administration on August 24, 2022, and it became effective on October 31,

2022. The DACA program is formalized by this federal regulation, often known as a rule.

Today, the Department of Homeland Security continues to process DACA renewal requests

and requests for job authorizations, and current approvals and work authorizations continue to be

valid. However, a U.S. District Court Judge determined that the program itself violates federal

immigration law, so the program itself is still at risk. The protracted legal battle may prevent DACA

from accepting new applicants and even result in its demise.

Finally, Title 42, the pandemic-era law that permitted US authorities to swiftly deport

migrants on the basis of public health, has been repealed. As concerns about a sizable influx of

migrants rise, the Biden administration has sent 1,500 active duty soldiers to the southern border to

help the border patrol with processing.

The Trump administration invoked Title 42, a public health law, to swiftly remove or expel

people who crossed the border illegally with the intention of requesting asylum. The name of the

policy is derived from Title 42 of the US Legal Code, a collection of regulations governing public

health. It was first used by the Trump administration in March 2020 to turn away immigrants on the

basis that they might import COVID-19 into the US.

 The majority of migrants were returned to Mexico under the strategy after border patrol

personnel took their identities and fingerprints. The policy proved to be an inadequate tool for

enforcement. Unexpectedly, it made it simpler for migrants who are not seeking asylum to undertake

several border crossings. According to the governors of Arizona and Texas, the Biden administration's

border security measures are insufficient, allowing their states to take the brunt of the migrant waves.

In order to confront the migrant rush, the administration is using both the existing

immigration rules and a new set of measures, according to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro

Mayorkas. The immigration statute known as Title 8 does have consequences. Crossing the border

without authorization is considered a misdemeanor, and individuals who do so and are caught face a

five-year prohibition from doing so again. And if they do return and are apprehended, they may be

charged with a felony for re-crossing the border .

The new set of regulations from the Biden administration are meant to resemble the Title 42

border policy. The US will swiftly adopt a stricter criteria for granting refuge to immigrants who enter

the country unlawfully, which is something that asylum seekers are now permitted to do. Generally

speaking, those who enter this country illegally and haven't requested protections in other nations

before will not be eligible.

They'll be deported quickly. They will either be returned to their home countries or to

Mexico, which has agreed to keep accepting them, after being deported. In order to provide asylum

seekers some legal options, the administration also intends to open new migrant processing facilities

in Guatemala and Colombia. It is not yet known when the centers will open or what kind of an impact

they will have.

Additionally, they are encouraging users of the CBP One app. It's an app that allows you to

schedule a visit to a port of entry or lawful border crossing to present your case for immigration into

the US. Unless they use the app's appointment system, asylum seekers at the border will basically be

prohibited from entering the nation under the restrictions.

Regarding the question asked at the beginning of this essay, “which immigration

policies represent a fair and humane system, Trump’s or Biden’s?”, the answer is: none. At
first, it may have seemed like current president Joe Biden’s policies would be better and less

cruel than the Trump administration’s, but the reality is that everything is still pretty much the

same. As it was mentioned earlier, Biden’s policies are just a little more “humane” (which

still is debatable) with the restoration of the DACA program, the end of the “Muslim Ban”,

and the increase in the number of diversity visas.

To conclude this case study, it is important to state that the topics both presidents have

touched, or talked about regarding migration in the United States do not even scratch the

surface of the struggles immigrants from all over the world have to face, even after “settling”

in the country. For anyone who may be accurately informed on the matter, it should be pretty

obvious that more than a lot has to be done in order to fully guarantee total protection for

immigrants, not just in the USA, but in the whole world.

References

Adl, W. I. D. a. W. a. T. D. |. (2023). What is DACA and Who Are the DREAMers? |

ADL. ADL. https://www.adl.org/resources/tools-and-strategies/what-daca-and-who-

are-dreamers?

gclid=Cj0KCQjwmZejBhC_ARIsAGhCqneGmGG_61rgFQLbupy0OfNZq809Io7D4

mSmmzqzybAIgCCVadT0EaAaAlALEALw_wcB

Debusmann, B. B., Jr. (2023, May 17). How Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s border

policies compare. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65574725

Hackman, M. (2023, May 12). What Is Title 42? What Its End Means for Immigration

and U.S.-Mexico Border. WSJ. https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-is-title-42-border-

rules-migration-11649118539#:~:text=First%20put%20in%20place%20by,chance

%20to%20ask%20for%20asylum.
Immigration – The White House. (2019, May 21). The White House.

https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/immigration/

La política migratoria de Donald Trump. (2017). [Video]. Biblioteca UNAM;

UNAM. Retrieved May 19, 2023, from

https://biblat.unam.mx/hevila/Alegatos/2017/no95/9.pdf

Lind, D. (2016, April 28). The disastrous, forgotten 1996 law that created today's

immigration problem. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11515132/iirira-clinton-

immigration

Reuters. (2020, August 11). What’s In Play: Trump versus Biden on immigration

[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phyk2AdUWgs

Schacher, Y. (2023). Comment for the Federal Register on the Biden Administration’s

Proposed Asylum Ban — Refugees International. Refugees International.

https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2023/3/28/comment-for-the-federal-

register-on-the-biden-administrations-proposed-asylum-ban

The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). (2022, August 23). JMHS

Special Collection | The Law That Begot the Modern US Immigration Enforcement

System: IIRIRA 20 Years Later - The Center for Migration Studies of New York

(CMS). https://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-sc-iirira/

Villarreal, A. (2023, January 22). Trump v Biden: how different are their policies on

the US-Mexico border? The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/22/trump-v-biden-us-mexico-border-

policies-analysis