Two faces of reversing trump's policies

During the presidential campaign, Mr. Biden made a strong push that on Day 1 he will sign an executive order reversing all of Mr. Trump's immigration polices. So far, he has done quite a few of those with some beneficial results. However, for today, here is an example what happens when policies of a previous administration are reversed even with the best of intentions.

More than a year ago, I wrote in this column a policy instituted by then president Trump that authorizes the USCIS to reject applications and petitions that it deems to be incomplete. Prior to this 2019 policy, USCIS customarily issued a Request for Evidence that asks for more information or documents from the applicant or petitioner. With this then new rule, a missed piece of evidence such as a passport picture or a line that is left blank could trigger USCIS to outrightly reject the submission and send it back to the applicant/petitioner. What I decried at that time was that this is such an oppressive, if not an anti-immigrant regulation since an automatic rejection denies the filer the benefit of a priority date or the assurance of a timely filing. This rule unnecessarily imposes undue stress and anxiety on the applicant/petitioner since you can never be sure what USCIS may see as incomplete in their initial intake.

In a favorable reversal by the Biden administration, it has decided to discontinue this Trump era rule. And rightfully so. Now, USCIS will not automatically reject incomplete submissions but will still check the completeness of a submission and may still reject it if it sees that a vital piece of information is lacking such as a missing marriage certificate for spousal petitions. This is good news for immigrants as they could save a lot of time when their submissions are initially accepted instead of being returned. This move by Mr. Biden is another move that shows compassion to the immigrant community and a common sense approach to this complex dilemma.

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In the other end of the spectrum, Mr. Biden's problems on the southern border of the US continue to grow. Since the start of his presidency, there has been a surge of immigrants wanting to enter the US through the Mexico border. And they keep on coming. As noted by observers from both parties, this swelling number of crossings is brought about by the perceived relaxation of immigration enforcement under the Democratic administration. The immigrants even wear T-shirts pleading Mr. Biden to allow their entry.

Republicans are quick to pounce on this border crisis. It blames the administration's policy of halting the construction of Trump's border wall and abandoning the US deal with Mexico to allow these immigrants to stay in that country while waiting for their applications to be adjudicated.

Whether or not short-term or long-term remedies are enough to stem the rising tide of immigrant crossings, it remains to be seen how effective are Mr. Biden's policies now that he is at the helm. There has to be a day of reckoning that this problem, along with the rest of the immigration stresspoints have to be addressed by mature and sensible legislative action and not just a patchwork of band-aid solutions in the form of executive orders.

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Let me take this opportunity to greet each one of you a hopeful Easter. During these difficult times, Christ's resurrection reminds us to hope even at the deepest of our sorrows. The source of life has conquered death. Nothing is impossible with him.

Have a blessed Easter, everyone.