Pushed by public opinion shift, Democrats adopt immigration restrictions

When President Biden took office on Jan. 20, 2021, he did what he had promised: he rescinded many of former President Donald Trump’s draconian immigration policies.

But three years into his presidency, Biden and the Democratic leadership changed its approach to immigration, focusing heavily on enforcement, restrictions, and punishments — a strategy at times indistinguishable from the Trump administration. Their positions have moved significantly to the right in part due to Republican attacks and changing public views on border security.

This has left immigration rights advocates wondering whether Democrats will focus again on providing pathways to legal status for millions of unauthorized migrants in the U.S.

“What we are seeing is that the center of the Democratic Party is now adopting the same policies, the same postures, that MAGA Republicans were fighting for about six years ago,” Elora Mukherjee, the director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, told NPR.

Some immigrant rights advocates say misinformation, as well as a record number of unauthorized crossings during the Biden administration, have put Democrats in a position where they have to prove they can be tough at the border.