Biden Confronts Trump’s Disastrous Legacy on Immigration

Since he took office last month, President Joe Biden has moved quickly to overhaul Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Among other measures, the new administration has moved to rebuild the U.S. refugee resettlement program, which had been gutted under Trump; ended the “safe third country” agreements that aimed to force asylum-seekers to first register their claims in other nations before traveling to the United States; stopped construction of the wall along parts of the U.S. border with Mexico; and issued a 100-day pause on deportations, although that order has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

Adam Isacson, a longtime WPR contributor who is currently the director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, has been tracking the detrimental impacts of Trump’s immigration policies and their ripple effects in Central America. He joins WPR’s Elliot Waldman on the Trend Lines podcast this week to discuss Biden’s early moves on immigration. 

Relevant Articles on WPR:

America Needs More Open Immigration

Biden’s New Approach to Central America Is Welcome, but It Won’t Be Easy

Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Crackdown Is Creating New Coronavirus Hotspots

Trump’s Threats Won’t Make Mexico and Guatemala ‘Safe Third Countries’

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

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