Biden urged to reject Trump-era immigration policies

By Hanan Redwan Published on December 13, 2023

Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman, Yvette D Clarke, is urging the Biden administration to reject any Trump-era immigration policies currently under consideration by Republicans in the Congressional supplemental aid package negotiations.

“For their implicit inhumanity and ineffectiveness, I’ve long maintained that Trump-era policies have no place in our national immigration strategy moving forward,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, told the Caribbean Media Corporation.

“As Congressional Republicans, once again, hold Congress for ransom to force through their cruel, callous, and deeply unpopular policy demands, I urge President Biden to refuse to bow to their ultimatums,” added Clarke.

Clarke, who is the representative for the predominantly Caribbean 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, went on to say, “Our immigration system is in desperate need of comprehensive reform, centred around humanity and dignity for all l migrants and asylum seekers.”

She said, from the Republicans’ “bad-faith proposal, there is no debate that our colleagues across the aisle are far more interested in making our immigration system worse. Republicans’ efforts to skirt our obligations to those requesting asylum, refugees, and all others seeking safe haven from political persecution and violence cannot be ignored and their actions must be unequivocally rejected by the Biden-Harris Administration.”

Clarke said the immigration policies of the United States must respect international law and preserve the dignity of migrant families. She added that America was “founded on these principles, and we must continue to adhere to them.”

Meanwhile, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, Senator Alex Padilla, and Nanette Barragán, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus – both of California, also urged Biden to reject the Trump-era immigration policies being considered in the ongoing negotiations around the supplemental aid package.

“We are deeply concerned that the President would consider advancing Trump-era immigration policies that Democrats fought so hard against — and that he himself campaigned against — in exchange for aid to our allies that Republicans already support,” they said in a joint statement. “Caving to demands for these permanent damaging policy changes as a ‘price to be paid’ for an unrelated one-time spending package would set a dangerous precedent.”

Last month, Padilla led 10 colleagues in issuing a joint statement condemning the proposed threats to the asylum system in the supplemental aid package negotiations.

The Biden administration and Congress are reportedly considering moving forward with new restrictions on the United States asylum system, including an expanded deportation process to be included in the supplemental funding bill to Ukraine, due to Republican pressure and threats to derail the process.

Many of the migrant and asylum seekers arriving in New York from the southern border of the United States are nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Guatemala.

Hanan Redwan

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