According to the current election results, it is worth taking a closer look at the planned immigration policy of presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Trump initially restricted immigration regulations in the United States, partly due to the corona pandemic. With his election manifesto, Biden now intends to correct “Trump’s damage”. Trump initially regulated his immigration policy in two ways: by signing executive orders and by issuing new or amended existing regulations. One approach that Biden is pursuing is adapting the visas to be issued in the USA. Trump has currently set a maximum limit of 140,000 visas per year. Biden, on the other hand, would like to make the issuing of visas dependent on the unemployment rate in the USA. He specially intends to increase the issuing of visas for highly qualified specialists and even to create a new visa category that is to be issued in certain regions in order to increase their growth. With this approach he wants to compensate for the strong urbanization of the big cities and at the same time create economic growth in rural regions. The “Public Charge” rule established by Trump is now also to be adapted. Biden is of the opinion that such a discriminatory regulation does not correspond to the character of the „America of great opportunities and dreams“ and therefore a modified regulation should take place. Another goal that Biden is pursuing is the expansion of the DACA program, with which young people without papers can obtain work permits or access to universities. Biden also speaks out against the anti-Muslim stance of Trump’s policy and plans to lift the controversial travel bans. In terms of refugee policy, too, Biden would like to raise the current limit of admission of 18,000 refugees per fiscal year to 125,000 – and he will try to increase it further. The possibilities for immigration made difficult by Trump should be facilitated and regulated by Biden. He wants to work to make this process, which Trump has deliberately made difficult, easier. In doing so, he primarily wants to enable families to stay together and make them able to join American relatives. In summary, it can be said that Biden will try to simplify or even abolish many of the processes laid down by Trump. Whether this is feasible within this framework remains to be seen in the course of his new presidency.
