Biden’s Choice on Immigration Is Lose-Lose, Columnist Says

Former President Donald Trump was hyper-focused on immigration policy. Throughout his four years in office, he campaigned on building a wall at the southern border, vocally advocated for a Muslim ban and consistently pushed for a harsh, deterrent approach to immigration.

“There is this myth out there that there is a crisis at the border brewing. There is no crisis. What there is, is a re-occurring problem.” –Shikha Dalmia, The Week

Now, the Biden administration is tasked with undoing the previous administration’s harshest policies while also reforming a flawed immigration system.

Listen: How should Biden go about fixing America’s broken immigration system? 

 

Jake Neher/WDET

Guest

Shikha Dalmia is a columnist with The Week and recently authored a piece titled “Biden’s lose-lose immigration strategy.”  She says the narrative that there is a crisis at the border fails to paint a complete picture of the issue at hand.

“There is this myth out there that there is a crisis at the (U.S.-Mexico) border brewing. There is no crisis. What there is, is a re-occurring problem,” says Dalmia.

She says that weather dictates that there is always an influx of people leaving Central America for the United States around this time of year. Dalmia adds that the consistent problem at the border warrants comprehensive reform, and to Biden’s credit, he has released a bill within his first 100 days as promised. But according to Dalmia, Biden’s policy focuses on those already inside the country and does little to address factors outside of the United States.

Dalmia hopes that moving forward the Biden administration will adopt and cultivate a pro-immigration culture in America in addition to policy reform. “This administration is still playing defense on the narrative on immigration … that immigrants are somehow liabilities instead of assets,” says Dalmia.