In a speech at the virtual National Immigration Integration Conference, organised by the National Partnership for New Americans, Indian-American Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris vowed that the new Biden administration would send a comprehensive immigration reform bill to Congress within the first 100 days, reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, and repeal the Muslim ban.
“These last four years have been heartbreaking and extremely difficult. Children have been separated from their families. Those fleeing persecution have been denied the ability to apply for refuge. Even immigrants who have been here for a long time are subject to attack and abuse,” said Harris.
According to a Migration Policy Institute report, the Trump Administration has made 400 policy changes detrimental to immigrants, with 63 of them amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, Trump issued a ban on H-1B workers — largely from India — from entering the country, stating that millions of Americans rendered jobless by the pandemic should not have to compete with foreign workers.
Harris lauded immigrants for being on the front lines of the COVID pandemic as essential health care workers.
“Joe Biden and I will attempt to right the wrongs of the past four years and restore our values of America as a nation that welcomes immigrants,” she said.