US President Joe Biden revokes Trump prohibition on green card applicants
A proclamation released by the Trump administration that blocked several green card applicants from entering the United States has been withdrawn by US President Joe Biden.
Former President Donald Trump's decree, known as Presidential Proclamation 100014, cited the need to safeguard US jobs despite high unemployment rates triggered by the pandemic of the coronavirus.
"The White House announced in a statement on Wednesday that Biden reversed the measure via an executive order, stating that Trump's prohibition divided families and "does not advance the interests of the United States.
“To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here,” the statement reads.
Human rights advocates have been calling on the Biden administration to overturn the measure, which was set to expire on March 31.
“I’m thrilled that Biden has cancelled this proclamation,” Curtis Morrison, an immigration lawyer based in California, told Al Jazeera.
“But I’m also worried,” said Morrison, explaining that the US is currently facing a backlog of hundreds of thousands of visa applicants.
“That backlog may take [Biden’s] entire first term to clear out, unless he is ambitious to doing something to solve that problem.”
Biden has reversed some of Trump's anti-immigration policies since taking office on January 20, including the so-called Muslim ban and a scheme that required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico until their US asylum claims are being processed.
But his efforts are likely to be met with strong opposition by Republicans in Congress, including a bill unveiled this month that would establish an eight-year pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented persons residing in the US.
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