President Biden faces increasing pressure from Senate Democrats to take a last-minute move to extend protections against deportations for some illegal immigrants before the incoming Trump administration launches a mass deportation operation. next year.
Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., held a news conference this week with immigration activists to renew calls to urge Biden to take action on favor of illegal immigrants. currently protected by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
TPS allows citizens living in the US and coming from countries designated as unsafe to return, obtain work permits, and be protected from deportation. DACA is a 2012 Obama-era executive order that allowed some illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children to remain in the country free of deportation.
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Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., holds a Border Patrol challenge coin as she speaks about Republicans abandoning the bipartisan border deal during Senate Democrats’ news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday February 6, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The incoming Trump administration is expected to allow TPS to expire for many countries, as the first administration attempted to do. Republicans have been deeply critical of the use of TPS, accusing the Biden administration of abusing the tool. A bill introduced by Senator-elect Jim Banks in the House would restrict TPS designations by requiring Congress to approve them for 12-month periods and would require additional action by Congress to extend them.
However, Trump has expressed his willingness to reach an agreement with Democrats to allow DACA recipients to remain in the United States.
“I will work with the Democrats on a plan, and if we can come up with a plan, but the Democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. The Republicans are very open to the Dreamers. The Dreamers, we have been talking for many years. “They were brought to this country many years ago, some of them are no longer young, and in many cases they are successful,” Trump said this week.
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But Trump’s campaign was defined by the promise to launch a campaign of mass deportations, and with that looming, Democrats want Biden to act before it takes effect.
“The president has legal authority to act to provide security for these immigrant communities in the long term, and he should use it,” Cortez Masto said at the press conference.
“We know that the incoming administration will try to implement chaotic immigration policies that will tear our families apart,” he said.
President Joe Biden delivers a speech on the latest developments in Syria from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on December 8, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Pete Marovich/Getty Images)
She was also skeptical of Trump’s promise to protect the DACA administration, given what she said were his actions in the first Trump administration: “We presented him with a bipartisan bill to protect our Dreamers, and he killed it.”
“President Biden, you have the opportunity to build your legacy on the economy, as well as your humanitarian legacy, seize this moment to protect immigrants for the long term and strengthen our nation’s economy,” Padilla said.
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The news conference came days after a letter from Democrats led by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that expressed “deep concern about the threat the incoming administration poses to immigrants in our communities.”
“We write now because the window to secure and finalize your administration’s policies is rapidly closing. We urge you to act decisively between now and the president-elect’s inauguration to complete the important work of the past four years and protect the immigrant families”. they said.
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So far, there have been no indications that Biden is planning any such action regarding DACA. TPS extensions and redesignations are generally announced by the Department of Homeland Security. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
The Trump administration unsuccessfully pushed to end DACA, but was blocked by the Supreme Court. The matter is still in court, with a demand challenging the legality of the policy under review in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
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In 2019, Trump proposed three additional years of protections for DACA recipients and others in exchange for money to build a wall along the southern border. Democrats rejected that deal, calling it “hostage-taking.”
