What is Biden doing differently at US border?
How are migrants entering the US?
Migrants cross the border in one of two ways:
1. Those who "have suffered persecution or fear that they will suffer persecution" in their home country are eligible for asylum when they present themselves at a port of entry for admission into the US.
2. Others may evade immigration inspectors and border patrol by hiding in vehicles or traveling undetected across unprotected - and typically treacherous - sections of the US-Mexico border.
According to the Pew Research Center, at least 40% of unauthorised migrants in the country entered legally on short-term visas and overstayed.
Are unaccompanied children being held?
Yes. Unlike Mr Trump, Mr Biden has decided not to refuse entry to migrant children or teenagers. Mr Biden has so far left a Trump-era Covid-19 emergency policy in place, which allows US authorities to expel almost all undocumented migrants seeking entry - bypassing normal immigration laws and protections.
Now, hundreds of migrant children are crossing the border each day, and thousands of minors have been detained in holding facilities at the country's southwest border in recent weeks. The children start out being held by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a maximum of 72 hours. They are then turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "to address the needs of that child", Secretary Mayorkas said, including vetting the sponsor families who will house the children while their cases are adjudicated in immigration court. Children and teens are held by HHS for a month on average, he said.
How is Biden defending that?
Human rights groups and members of Mr Biden's own party have criticised the decision to hold children in government custody for the weeks or months it takes to match them with sponsors. Mr Mayorkas dismissed a comparison to Mr Trump's immigration programs as "absolutely inaccurate", saying his department was acting in the "best interest" of the migrant children.
But some advocates say that with most children arriving with plans to reunite with sponsors - typically friends or family - they should be transferred immediately to their care. And according to preliminary plans obtained by US media, such a system may already be in the works.
The Biden administration is reportedly rushing to convert its existing facilities into "reception centres", meant to rapidly process migrant families with the goal of releasing them into the US within 72 hours of arrival. The proposal would replace long-term detention with Ellis Island-style processing, allowing migrants to travel to US sponsors before completing asylum screenings. The reports, from the Washington Post and the San Antonio Express, suggest a major overhaul of the US immigration system.
What is happening with Trump's "Remain in Mexico policy"?
On Mr Biden's first day in office, DHS suspended a controversial Trump-era policy that forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their US immigration hearings. About 70,000 migrants were enrolled in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) - informally known as the Remain in Mexico program - since it was introduced in January 2019. Last month, the Biden administration began to gradually process these tens of thousands of people waiting in Mexico, allowing them into the US while their cases are heard.
Still, Biden officials have stressed that migrants should not attempt to enter the US right now, saying more time is needed to rebuild the asylum systems they say were dismantled by Mr Trump. "A message to individuals who are thinking of coming to our border: they need to wait," Mr Mayorkas said last week. "It takes time to rebuild the system from scratch."
What's happening to undocumented people already in the US?
Biden's administration has taken several steps to reform the country's legal immigration system. He has proposed a major immigration bill that would offer an eight-year pathway to citizenship to the estimated 11 million undocumented people in the country.
The legislation would also provide permanent protection for young migrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, known as Dreamers. The aggressively pro-immigration policy - which would greatly increase both family-based and employment-based legal immigration - will face staunch opposition in Congress, among Republicans and some moderate Democrats.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56255613
