America decides to grant US citizenship to 9 million immigrants
Senior officials said Tuesday that Joe Biden will call on his administration to simplify granting US citizenship to nine million immigrants, as part of a raft of steps aimed at canceling the "failed" policies of his Republican predecessor, Trump.
Officials said the Democratic president will sign a series of executive orders to reform the US immigration process on Tuesday, signaling a return to a more inclusive policy.
Biden is also set to order a review of all legal obstacles to US citizenship, immigration and integration that were in place under Donald Trump. According to a senior government official, "The review is likely to lead to drastic changes in immigration policies to America," saying the goal is "to restore confidence in our legal immigration system, and to promote the integration of Americans."
"President Trump was so focused on the wall that he did nothing to address the root cause of people coming to our southern border ... It was a limited, naive, and time-consuming strategy that failed," the same official said.
In keeping with campaign promises, Biden will create a working group tasked with reuniting separated immigrant families through Trump's "zero tolerance" policy in place since 2018. Getting US citizenship through marriage has also known several complications in the past, and these will be resolved with Biden's new decisions.
That policy allowed officials to prosecute and deport adults who entered the United States illegally. Then their children were placed in federal custody. In the face of international protest, and even criticism from within his party, the Trump administration was forced to reduce the number of immigrants to America, but hundreds of immigrant children were not returned to their parents. In addition, the former president issued several laws that made it difficult to obtain American citizenship.
The officials said that the working group will study ways to reunite families, without specifying whether this will allow parents or children who have been deported to return to US soil.
A second executive order echoes a similar policy under the Barack Obama administration, establishing legal mechanisms for potential immigrants in their home countries to apply for residency, allowing them to avoid dangerous smuggling routes.
The third decree will boost the integration of immigrants who legally reside in the United States and make naturalization easier for the more than nine million immigrants currently eligible to apply for US citizenship.
There will be a review of the so-called “public official rule” introduced in August 2019 that allowed officials to deny citizenship or green card applications for immigrants receiving social assistance, such as subsidized care or housing allowances.
