Immigration: More Things Change, More They Stay the Same

Meanwhile, down south, things on the US-Mexico border are not noticeably different in the early days of the Biden Administration

A small fence separates densely populated Tijuana, Mexico, right, from the United States in the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Gordon Hyde, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile, down south, things on the US-Mexico border are not noticeably different in the early days of the Biden Administration.

Thousands of asylum-seekers waiting at America’s doorstep face similar predicaments as a result of a network of policies the Trump administration implemented to deter would-be migrants, whom it accused of gaming the country’s humanitarian programs to gain easy entry into the U.S.

President Biden decried these measures as “inhumane” and vowed to end them during the campaign, accusing the Trump administration of forcing asylum applicants to live “in squalor.” After winning the election, his advisers said unwinding the many policies would take time, largely due to the pandemic.

During Mr. Biden’s first day in office, his administration stopped placing asylum-seekers in the so-called “Remain-in Mexico” program. He is also set to formally end the policy and other asylum limits this week as part of an executive order to retool how U.S. border officials will process migrants going forward.

But the new administration…