President-elect Joe Biden is expected to reverse some immigration policies developed during the Trump administration. Here are some of the changes in immigration that Biden is planning to make in his term.

Joe Biden
(Photo : Reutersconnect/Jim Bourg)

Many factors helped Joe Biden get the majority of the electoral votes and support of millions of Americans and other demographics in the country. Among those factors is his campaign on immigration.

Immigration has been a pervasive issue in the country for the past few years, most especially for the immigrants and asylum seekers. 

The president-elect is expected to reverse some immigration policies as he enters the White House in January.

Some of these policies might take years before it will be reversed, but some could take effect immediately. Here are some of the immigration policies that Biden might change or reverse, according to Reuters:

1. Immigration Reform and Dreamers

There are around 11 million immigrants who are living illegally in the country and Biden might send an immigration bill in Congress on his first day in January.

This is to give a clear pathway for these immigrants to become citizens in the country. The bill might also include those who have the so-called status "Dreamers" who live in the country after they entered as children.

There are roughly 644,000 "Dreamers" who were granted deportation relief and work permits during the time of former Pres. Barrack Obama under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

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2. Travel Bans

Biden plans to lift the travel bans on travelers from 13 countries. The majority of them are coming from either Muslims or African countries.

Trump issued an executive order that banned travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering USA in 2017. 

Joe Biden could easily lift this travel ban because these were issued through an executive order and presidential proclamation, according to NDTV.

However, policy experts believed that there is also a chance that the process will be delayed if the conservatives will file lawsuits.

3. Pandemic Travel Ban Restrictions

There were a series of travel ban restrictions implemented during the wake of the global pandemic.

The orders kept the legal migrants and travelers from entering the country in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. Needless to say, many were affected due to these restrictions. 

The order includes banning travelers and many people coming from Brazil, China, and Europe. At that time, they were the countries that have the highest number of infections.

Biden plans to seek guidance from the public health experts on how to safely allow people from these countries and the legal immigrants from entering the country, according to Travel Pulse. He's also formulating a pandemic plan to help curb the rising COVID-19 cases.

4. Refugees

Joe Biden plans to increase the annual ceiling for refugees admissions to 125,000, but did not give any details as to how quickly this would happen.

Trump administration announced in September that it would not allow more than 15,000 refugees in the 2021 fiscal year. 

Meanwhile, Biden announced in October that he would immediately grant humanitarian protections to Venezuelans living in the country. This will help them to stay in the United States and will have working permits.  

Read also: Trump's H-1B Visa-Worker Program Helps Raise Wages