President Biden and his top aides held a 90-minute meeting with seven leaders of the Hispanic Caucus in Congress (CHC) on Monday afternoon, during which the president said his administration would move forward to end the title. , the COVID-19-related measure used to expel. migrants from the border quickly. According to some members of the meeting, he said he would need his help to explain and defend the administration’s immigration policy in public and in the upcoming budget and legislative debates.
But the meeting was underway as a federal judge temporarily blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. end the politics of the pandemic era as currently scheduled for May 23rd. The members of the caucus were not sure what that court order would mean for the administration’s plans.
The Biden administration meeting was attended by key advisers and officials Cedric Richmond, Susan Rice, Louisa Terrell, Julie Rodriguez and Cristobal Alex, as well as Shalonda Young, Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Attending CHC members included representatives Raul Ruiz, Nanette Barragan, Adriano Espaillat, Darren Soto.
CHC members said they were pleased to see the president call for at least a double the budget for family reunification work for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS currently has an impressive 4 million people waiting for processing.
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In particular, members left the meeting believing that the president would sign an executive order extending the Deferred Action for Arrivals to Children (DACA) program for another five years, a high priority of the caucus. DACA offers undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children protection from deportation and work permits, both of which are renewable.
And the president and his team indicated their openness to a new executive action to extend temporary protection status (TPS) to people in Honduras, Nicaragua, among other places, who have not been reassigned for several years.
Mr. Biden also told Hispanic lawmakers he is looking at different options to forgive most, if not all, student debt for those with federally backed loans.
CHC members said there was also talk of infrastructure, environmental justice and other immigration issues.
The Biden administration will hold more meetings with Congress in the coming days. Homeland Security Secretary Alexander Mayorkas is scheduled to brief some lawmakers on Tuesday, while White House lawmaker Terrell will meet with Senate Democratic cabinet chiefs and other key political aides. discuss immigration policy.
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