Thursday January 21, 2021
A protester holds up a sign outside the the Supreme Court in Washington on June 26, 2018, as part of a demonstration against the court’s ruling upholding President Trump’s travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries.(Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
President Biden, in one of his first moves in office, reversed the immigration restriction put in place by the Trump administration covering five Muslim-majority nations — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen — as well as North Korea and some government officials from Venezuela.
The Trump administration was forced to revise its original order twice to resolve legal problems over due process, implementation and exclusive targeting of Muslim nations.
Jake Sullivan, who will be Biden’s national security advisor, said the ban “was nothing less than a stain on our nation. It was rooted in xenophobia and religious animus.”
Biden also extended to June 2022 temporary legal status for Liberians who fled civil war and the Ebola outbreak.
Biden sent a broader immigration plan to Congress on Wednesday that includes a pathway to U.S. citizenship for an estimated 11 million people.
The bill also proposes an expansion of refugee admissions and increases in per-country visa caps.