In less than two months, many members of the UB community will vote for the 47th President of the United States. Current key issues include abortion, the economy, international issues and immigration. According to immigration lawyer and UB Associate Law Professor John H. Giammatteo, the next president has a big impact on the policies that affect immigration.
“Because of the way immigration is situated in the law, the president has a lot of control,” Giamatteo said. Immigration policy impacts the UB community in many ways, from international students seeking jobs post-graduation to recruiting foreign talent for a project.
Vice President Kamala Harris has indicated she wants to be “tougher” on the border, supporting increasing the number of border security agents despite driving home the narrative that the United States is a nation of immigrants and that she is a child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants herself.
If former President Donald Trump is reelected, he plans for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and to suspend the refugee program, barring entry from Muslim-majority countries. During his presidency, Trump attempted to deter migrants by separating children from their families. He also invoked Title 42, which allowed migrants to be forced to return after reaching the border and for asylum seekers to be expelled without any legal process.
The Biden-Harris administration continued enacting Title 42, using the pandemic as the reason. Giamatteo explained that both sides of the aisle are misguided in their approach to immigration.
As vice president, Harris has attempted to address the root cause of migration from Latin America by investing in these countries. But Giamatteo explains that deterrence policies fail when people are fleeing rampant violence, which is more often than not why people continue to come.
“People don’t choose to leave [their countries] just because they want to. They’re forced into it,” Giammatteo said.
A big part of U.S. immigration law is claiming asylum. Asylum allows immigrants and refugees to stay in the United States without fear of being deported to their home country where they face persecution. The law traces back to the 1951 Refugee Convention when there was an influx of war refugees. The core principle of the doctrine was that a refugee should not be returned to a country where their life is threatened. This presents a new opportunity for immigrants coming to the U.S.
“Claiming asylum in the U.S. is doing it legally,” Giamatteo said. “The line of ‘doing it legally’ is often lacking context and understanding. It is a good talking point but when you drill down into it, it doesn’t hold any weight compared to the realities of the system.”
Sarah Owusu is the senior features editor and can be reached at sarah.owusu@ubspectrum.com
Sarah Owusu is an assistant news editor at The Spectrum. In her free time she enjoys reading, baking, music and talking politics (yes, shockingly). She'll also be her own hairdresser when she needs a change.
