Biden’s Executive Orders Sound Promising. Activists are Skeptical.

President Joe Biden signs his first executive order, Jan. 20, 2021 [AP/Evan Vucci]

By Sarah Leonard

The new president floated into the White House yesterday on the dulcet tones of Demi Lovato and Lady Gaga, and a general sigh of relief from the media. CNN’s David Chalian described the lights along the National Mall as “extensions of Joe Biden’s arms embracing America.”

As one of his first steps in embracing America, Biden revoked Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban,” the racist executive order that blocked people from seven nations from entering the country, as well as the “Africa ban” targeting immigrants from certain African countries. Biden also halted construction of Trump’s “big, beautiful” wall on the southern border, of which only a part was built during his term. Biden “embraced” DACA, which protects immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. And Biden and Kamala Harris have pledged to send comprehensive immigration legislation to Congress that will include paths to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants, although it would still take eight years to “earn” it.

While many progressives are celebrating these reforms, others have expressed a mix of relief and skepticism. DREAMers, the group of young immigration activists who risked deportation to fight for the DREAM Act and DACA, note that Barack Obama with two Democratic houses of Congress failed to pass permanent legislation protecting them, making it easy for Trump to weaken the rules. Biden was in fact notorious among many immigration advocates for spearheading parts of deporter-in-chief Obama’s immigration program, which included mass deportations and jailing families.

“As much as I want to believe [Biden], I also want action, because we’ve been here before,” DACA recipient Gabriela Cruz told the Sacramento Bee. “We’ve been under an administration who had full control of the House and the Senate, and yet did not pass anything permanent for us.”

Leading activist organizations like Mijente, a Latinx grassroots group, say Biden must be better than Obama. That Biden is moving on immigration at the beginning of his term owes much to the battles fought by these organizations and young people like Cruz, who have forced the issue of humane immigration on reluctant Democrats.

This summer, Bernie Sanders supporters collaborated with Biden supporters on a policy recommendation document meant to unite the party. It includes important steps, like ending ICE collaboration with local law enforcement and closing private detention centers. “I’m watching for how much of that document will be tried to be swept under the rug,” Marisa Franco, executive director of Mijente, who helped craft the recommendations, told Politico. “It’s going to say a lot about where the Biden administration is planning to go.”

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