Biden will reverse most of Trump's anti-immigration policies and provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants

On Day One of President Joe Biden's administration, he will seek to overhaul Donald Trump's immigration policies based on xenophobia and racism.

Biden’s incoming chief of staff, Ron Klain, said Saturday that Biden will send an immigration bill to Congress “on his first day in office.” He didn’t elaborate and Biden’s office declined to comment on specifics but other sources who heard the plans Saturday said the proposed legislation would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, including 1.7 million from Asia.

In an earlier Univision interview, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said DACA and TPS recipients will “automatically get green cards” while others would be on an eight-year path to citizenship.

In his campaign website, Biden outlined his immigration plan, which is almost the polar opposite of Trump's immigration proposals and executive orders. 

Among Biden's Immigration proposals are:

• Biden said he will rescind Trump’s “Muslim ban” on Day One and reverse the detrimental asylum policies that are causing chaos and a humanitarian crisis at our border. 

• He will support family-based immigration and preserve family unification as a core principle of our immigration system, which includes reducing the family visa backlog.

• He will reinstate strengthen the protections for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program affecting.

• He will increase the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration based on macroeconomic conditions and exempt from any cap recent graduates of PhD programs in STEM fields. 

• He will support first reforming the temporary visa system for high-skill, specialty workers to protect wages, then expanding the number of visas offered and eliminating the limits on employment-based visas by country.

• He will restore the naturalization process for green card holders. 

• He will increase the number of refugees welcomed into this country by setting the annual global refugee admissions target to 125,000 and seek to raise it over time commensurate with America's responsibility, values, and the unprecedented global need. 

Trump's visit to the Mexican border last week failed to take attention away from the Jan. 6 attempted coup and his role in inciting the  insurrectionists who forcibly occupied the Capitol for four hours ostensibly to protest the outcome of the Nov. 3 election but was also an alarming display of racism by white supremacists.

But the trip to the border was a harsh reminder of how inhumane and nonsensical Trump's policies have been in trying to limit immigration to the United States and how important it is to begin repairing the damage that has been done over the last four years. 

It was the separation of crying children from their parents that turned many voters away from Trump. Support for more immigration and family reunification actually grew during Trump's term.

A 2020 Gallup poll found that 34% of those surveyed favored more immigration, up from 21% in 2016 and higher than any time since it began asking the question in 1965. The survey found 77% felt immigration was good for the country on the whole, up slightly from 72% in 2016.