Biden wants to Roll Back the Immigration Policy changes made by Trump. Will that be possible in his first four years?

There was a recent, very interesting article published by NPR that highlighted the problems that may be faced by the Biden administration (if he wins the election) in rolling back the changes implemented by the Trump administration. You can read the full article here.

While there were several possible barriers raised by the article that could stand in Biden’s way of changing such immigration policies, the biggest, and hardest barrier to break through, in my mind, is the culture that has been created at USCIS, ICE, CBP and other related agencies. According to the article:

“That isn’t something that’s a light switch. You can’t change culture within an organization that vast overnight,” says Angela Kelley, senior adviser to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “So I agree that it’s going to be a long, long road.” 

CBP produced an ominous, fictionalized video on the Border Patrol’s YouTube channel that depicts a Latino migrant who had just escaped from agents, attacking and knifing a man in a dark alley. The video was released at a time when Trump has been stoking fears about violent immigrants at his campaign rallies. For an example of how the Border Patrol is marching lockstep with the White House, look to a video titled “The Gotaway,” posted earlier this month. 

NPR inquired why the video was made and why it was removed a week later before being re-posted. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott said in a statement that the video was produced “to enhance awareness that effective border security helps keep all Americans safe,” and it was briefly pulled because they misused copyrighted materials.

NPR, Morning Edition, September 14, 2020

Changing such a culture will take time. While changing those at the top will help change the policies the officers act under, getting those changes to be implemented by officers, and getting them to change their attitudes will take quite a while, especially at ICE and CBP. USCIS may be somewhat easier to crack as the officers there are not dealing with deportation or apprehending people on a daily basis and are not necessarily as hard lined (although, most likely, some are as well). Changing the policies at USCIS may be enough to allow officers to change the way they adjudicate cases without to much time passing.

Again, according to the article:

“I don’t think it’s realistic that Biden in four years could unroll everything that Trump did,” says Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. 

“Because of the intense volume and pace of changes the Trump administration enacted while in office, even if we have a new administration, Trump will continue to have had an impact on immigration for years to come,” Pierce says.

NPR, Morning Edition, September 14, 2020

While, overall, it may take a long time to affect all these changes, I do think, that there are some basic policies that could be changed much quicker (in terms of USCIS). First, the requirement of an interview for all cases – that could be changed very quickly. In addition, some of the more hardline looks at H-1Bs could also be changed rather quickly, as could the removal of harmful Executive Orders that limit immigration. So there is a lot that could be done relatively quickly as well.

We must also remember, that, if Biden is able to get Congress on his side as well, and a new immigration law is passed, that could significantly increase the rate at which changes can be made both inside USCIS as well as inside ICE and CBP (if such a law limits their jurisdicition and ability to act inside the law).

Overall, it could take longer for many changes, especially those at the border to be fully put in place. While some changes, those that primiarily are implemented by USCIS, may be able to be implemented earlier. We shall see what happens in November and what happens in January, should there be a change of administration.