Rights Groups to Pressure Biden to Pass Immigration Reform, Repeal Border Wall Policy

Border communities and immigration advocacy groups in the United States are ready to launch a new movement to pressure the presumed Biden administration to fulfill its promises to implement meaningful immigration reform policies, Border Network for Human Rights Executive Director Fernando Garcia told Sputnik.

"The fight continues, we're not appeased, we're not saying that everything is fine and that now [Joe] Biden is going to resolve that. It's the opposite," Garcia said. "We need to pressure this new administration because obviously it's a huge opportunity, probably 2021 is going to be the only year we really have a chance to pass something."

Garcia said Biden must respond to his Latino support by sticking to his promise to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill and repeal Trump immigration policies within the first hundred days of his administration.

Biden during his campaign promised that in the first 100 days he would reverse the Trump's administration's policies that deter asylum-seeking migrants seeking refuge in the United States, end prolonged detention of migrants in the United States, and end Trump's National Emergency on the border that justified the use of Defense dollars on new border wall.

"I think... ending MPP [Migrants Protection Protocols program] will be one of the first steps of this new administration," Garcia said. "I would think the refugees and asylum seekers will be happy that probably they will be able to make their case within the United States."

Earlier efforts to halt the influx of migrants coming to the United States included a "zero-tolerance" policy that led to the separation of children from families, sending more than 60,000 asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait for their asylum applications, and a ban on asylum seekers who crossed through a third country to reach the United States.

In October, US media reported, citing the American Civil Liberties Union, that the Trump administration is unable to find the parents of nearly 600 migrant children in US custody. More than 1,000 migrant families were separated in 2017 under the so-called zero-tolerance policy.

"I think we have done more than enough on the border - but now we need to concentrate on passing legislation that actually brings immigrants out of the shadows in the United States, but also stop militarizing the border and start making steps towards policies," Garcia said. "We don't need the wall, we don't need separation of children, refugees."

In addition, Biden has promised to surge humanitarian aid to the southern US border, offer deportation protections for migrants brought to the United States illegally as children - also known as Dreamers - and an end to the travel and refugee bans on Muslim-majority countries.

Biden also wants Congress to pass legislation to clear the path to citizenship for nearly 11 million people living in the United States and to reform visa programs for temporary migrant workers in certain industries.