Biden immigration overhaul would reunite families split up by deportation

Families coming to the US/Mexico border have been in the news.  Families also are affected by the U.S. government’s removal policies.  Robert McKee Irwin for The Conversation writes about the family unity provisions of the Biden administration’s proposed immigration legislation.  

Hundreds of thousands of immigrant families have been separated by removal from the United States, in many cases with a parent on one side of the border and children on the other.  Family reunification is a priority in President Joe Biden’s proposed immigration overhaul and in bills that both the House and Senate will debate in coming weeks.

Both bills have provisions to preserve “family unity.” These include giving immigration judges increased discretion in removal cases and allowing the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security or attorney general to waive removal or allow removed parents of U.S. citizen children to return to the United States.

Click the link above for analysis of the impacts of the proposed legislation.

KJ