BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION REUNIFIES FAMILIES & MAKES PROGRESS ON THE BORDER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2021
Contact: [email protected]
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION REUNIFIES FAMILIES & MAKES PROGRESS ON THE BORDER
Washington, D.C. — As Vice President Harris visits the border and works to address the root causes of migration, Building Back Together is celebrating the Biden-Harris Administration’s progress, including the reunification of families and a humane and orderly approach to border management.
President Biden and Vice President Harris inherited a dismantled system that led to a backlog of 1.3 million immigration cases, thousands of children separated from their families, and defunded migration courts and processing sites. Now, the Biden-Harris Administration is doing the hard work of rebuilding the system, addressing the root causes of migration, and reuniting families who have been separated for years.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris are addressing the root causes of migration and making significant progress at the border. The American people want solutions and the Biden-Harris Administration is delivering,” said Matt Barreto, Senior Advisor for Building Back Together. “After years of dismantling our asylum system and ripping children from the arms of their parents, we finally have leaders who are implementing a humane and orderly approach to immigration. President Biden and Vice President Harris promised to tackle the hard issues and build back a better future for all Americans, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
According to recent polling from NRP/Ipsos, American voters support what the Biden Administration is doing to correct the moral and policy failures of the Trump Administration. By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans support family reunifications undertaken by the Biden Administration, and 73% of Americans say it is important to ensure the proper care of migrant children at the border. The NPR/Ipsos poll also found strong bipartisan support for the Biden-Harris proposal for earned legal status and a path to citizenship for Dreamers and farmworkers. The poll found majorities of Democrats, Independents and Republicans all supported the Biden immigration reform plan.
In less than 160 days in office, the Biden-Harris Administration has made major progress to fix our immigration system:
- Reuniting children with their families after Trump’s disastrous family separation policy.
- Latest stories of family reunification:
- Improving the processing of unaccompanied minors and reducing the number of children in CBP facilities by nearly 90 percent.
- Reducing the number of children in CBP facilities from 5,676 to 570.
- Placing migrant children in humane facilities with Health and Human Services.
- Expanding lawful pathways to citizenship, including reopening the Central American Minors program and announcing 6,000 temporary visas for nationals of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
- Creating 4,000 additional slots for refugees from Latin American and the Caribbean, including the Northern Triangle.
- Creating orderly processes and protocols at the border, including COVID protocols.
- Providing a fair and orderly asylum process for migrants fleeing violence, disaster, and political oppression.
- Redesignating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians
- Investing in infrastructure and modern technology at the border for a 21st Century approach to border management.
- Addressing the root causes of migration, including:
- Directing $310 million towards humanitarian relief to Central America
- In Guatemala, creating a new anti-corruption task force and a smuggling and trafficking task force; investing $40 million for a Young Women’s empowerment initiative; and directing $48 million for affordable housing, agribusiness and entrepreneurs.
- In Mexico, directing $130 million to support labor standards and an MOU on developing programs in the region.
This progress comes on the heels of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ meeting with Dreamers and essential workers, and as Administration officials prioritize a pathway to citizenship and fixing our broken immigration system.
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