'Legal authority': Senate Democrats call on Biden to expand protections for illegal immigrants ahead of Trump administration

President Biden is under increasing pressure from Senate Democrats to take last-minute steps to expand deportation protections for some undocumented immigrants before the incoming Trump administration launches a major deportation operation next year. .

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nebraska, and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-Calif., held a press conference this week with immigration activists to renew calls for Mr. Biden to take action against illegal immigration. went. Currently protected by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

TPS allows people living in the United States from countries designated as unsafe to return to to obtain work permits and protection from deportation. DACA is a 2012 Obama-era executive order that allows some undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children to remain in the country without being deported.

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The incoming Trump administration is expected to allow many countries to revoke TPS, as the first administration tried to do. Republicans have strongly criticized the use of TPS, accusing the Biden administration of abusing the tool. A bill introduced in the House by Sen.-elect Jim Banks would limit the TPS designation by requiring Congress to approve it for a 12-month term, and by requiring additional action by Congress to extend the designation. This limits the specifications.

However, President Trump has announced his intention to reach an agreement with Democrats to allow DACA recipients to remain in the United States.

“I'm going to work with the Democrats to come up with a plan. If we can come up with a plan, the Democrats are making it very difficult to do anything. Republicans are very open to Dreamers. “Dreamers, we're talking, 'They were brought to this country years ago, some of them are no longer young people, but in many cases they're successful,'” President Trump said. mentioned this week.

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But Trump's campaign was defined by a promise to launch a mass deportation campaign, and with it on the horizon, Democrats are pushing Biden to take action before it takes effect. I want it.

“The president has the legal authority to act to provide certainty for long-term immigrant communities, and he should use it,” Cortez Masto said at a news conference.

“We know that the next administration is implementing disorderly immigration policies that will tear apart our families,” she said.

President Joe Biden speaks about the latest developments in Syria from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 8, 2024. (Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

She was also skeptical of President Trump's promise to protect the DACA regime, given his actions during the first Trump administration, saying, “We want him to deliver bipartisan legislation to protect Dreamers.” I submitted it and he crushed it.”

“President Biden, you have an opportunity to consolidate not only your humanitarian accomplishments, but your economic accomplishments. Use this moment to protect long-term immigrants and strengthen our economy,” Padilla said. .

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The press conference came days after a letter from Democrats led by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois expressed “deep concern about the threat the incoming administration poses to immigrants in our communities.”

“We write this letter now because the window to secure and finalize your administration's policy is rapidly closing. We urge you to take decisive action between now and the next president’s inauguration to complete this and protect immigrant families,” they said.

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So far, there is no indication that Biden is planning any such action on DACA. TPS extensions and redesignations are typically announced by the Department of Homeland Security. The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

The Trump administration unsuccessfully pushed to repeal DACA, which was blocked by the Supreme Court. The issue remains in court, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit hearing a case challenging the legality of the policy.

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In 2019, President Trump proposed an additional three years of protection for DACA recipients and others in exchange for money to build a wall along the southern border. Democrats rejected the agreement as “hostage-taking.”