Americans may be surprised to learn the Biden administration is defending two key Trump immigration policies in court.
President Biden has called former President Donald Trump's views on immigration "cruel", "harsh", and "evil". Yet, his Justice Department is reportedly fighting to maintain two of Trump's biggest border policies. Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, says they're only defending Trump's policies out of duress.
“If allowed to go their own way, the Biden administration would simply keep whisking people in,” Vaughan said. “But they have some political and tactical reasons for defending these policies in court.”
One of policies the administration is defending is the legal right to separate families. They’re fighting against compensating migrant families who were separated while Trump was in office.
“The lawyers in these cases really stand to make a very handsome sum of money from taxpayers by negotiating a deal with the government,” Vaughan explained.
Biden is also defending Title 42, which gives U.S. authorities the right to expel illegal immigrants to the other side of the border. The White House says the policy is needed to control the spread of COVID-19. However, Vaughan argues the current border crisis would be even worse without Title 42 in place.