Minyao Wang: U.S. Offers Relief to Noncitizens from Hong Kong in the United States

Official White House Photograph

Guest Post:  Minyao Wang

On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed an order conferring deferred enforced departure (“DED”) protection upon Hong Kong residents who were already present in the United States.  The President authorized the beneficiaries of the order to live and work here for 18 months.  With this decision the United States finally joined some of its closest allies and partners in extending accommodations to the people of Hong Kong.  To quote the President, this step is necessary because the Communist regime in Beijing has launched an all-out “assault on Hong Kong’s autonomy, undermining its remaining democratic processes and institutions, imposing limits on academic freedom, and cracking down on freedom of the press.”

Mr. Biden’s order echoes the order that President George H.W. Bush signed in the wake of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989.  That order permitted mainland Chinese nationals to remain under DED status.  Congress thereafter enacted the Chinese Student Protection Act, offering a special pathway to permanent residence to almost 60,000 Chinese nationals.  It is considered a milestone in the history of Chinese immigration to America.  Congress will now have a similar decision to make.  It is unlikely that the situation in Hong Kong will have improved by early 2023.  It would be consistent with our country’s humanitarian tradition to permit Hong Kong residents covered by Mr. Biden’s order to remain here permanently. 

The United States is also weighing whether and how to admit people still in Hong Kong as refugees.  While the Executive Branch arguably has the authority under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to launch a refugee program on its own (after consulting with Congressional committees), it would be best to have express legislative buy-in for such a major policy decision.  I am personally in favor of an accommodation similar to the Lautenberg Amendment, which significantly lowered the evidentiary burden of proof for and thereby facilitated the entry of Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union.

The poignance of the situation should not go unnoticed.  For much of its existence under British administration, Hong Kong was a safe haven for people escaping mainland China’s endless political turmoil and economic deprivation.  It also temporarily housed and fed hundreds of thousands of boat people fleeing Vietnam’s communist government.  It is now the turn of the people of Hong Kong to flee a dictatorship.         

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Minyao Wang is an attorney and contributes guest blog posts.

KJ