How Will Election Affect Immigration?
The next four years could involve further efforts to limit migration to the United States and transform the worldwide image of a nation of immigrants. Or it could lead to an expansion of legal immigration and reinstatement of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy for the children of undocumented immigrants.
Catherine Lee, a Rutgers University associate professor of sociology, discusses the disparate ways a President Trump reelection, or a Biden presidency, would affect American policies on immigration.
“Given the more than 400 executive actions during the first Trump administration and the president’s pledges to end DACA, further limit refugees and asylum seekers, and replace family reunification with a merit-based, points system, a second Trump administration would dramatically alter the United States’ national identity as a country of immigrants and a refuge for the vulnerable and oppressed,” said Lee, whose areas of expertise on immigration include social relations and inequalities related to race and ethnicity.
Immigration policies under a President Biden would be quite different, she said.
“Biden has pledged that, if elected, he will roll back Trump’s immigration policies, which will be a tall task given the scope of those changes,’’ Lee said.
“Biden has stressed the goals of expanding legal immigration, reaffirming the nation’s commitment to refugees and asylum seekers, reinstating DACA and addressing unauthorized immigration – essentially major reforms. As president, Joe Biden will have to invest significant political energy toward achieving comprehensive immigration legislation. Whoever wins the White House in November will face immigration issues that, for years, have led both conservatives and liberals to call for thorough reform,” Lee said.
You can view the “What Happens Next” conversation on Rutgers University-New Brunswick’s Facebook page. It is part of a series of interviews with Rutgers faculty on how the election will affect matters of national interest.
