Is he gone? Can we like just make sure?
Triple check.
Well, it seems Donald Trump has officially exited—
kind of, voluntarily I guess?—
the White House and we can go back to brunch.
No, of course not, if you think we can this video is not for you.
Actually, no, sorry, wait, no — it is for you. Don’t move.
The departure of Donald Trump from the White House
doesn't end the physically exhausting, morally repugnant
saga of the fascist flavor of the decade. He’ll likely remain
in headlines for the foreseeable future.
But more importantly, there’s a lot that he and his administration have done that will require someone
with a vision and the will to overhaul changes that have had a drastic impact on the lives of millions.
Luckily we've got these guys...
-The radical left
-Will you shut up, man?
-Listen who is-
-What were you listening to when you was high?
[Kamala laughs]
-What was on?
Hey guys, I’m Sana. I’m an immigrant three times over and this week, we’re talking about how the Biden
administration and the Democrats need to undo the Trump administration’s greatest success:
kicking out immigrants and refugees, and cultivating a very explicit and open hatred of them.
And since you’re already here, don’t forget to like and subscribe.
♪♪
Now I bear and bring no
delusions about the American immigration system and
the violent, exclusionary history of that system.
The very first immigration act of the settler-colony of the United States was the Naturalization Act of 1790.
It allowed any free white person deemed to have,
quote “good character” and having lived in the U.S. for
two or more years to apply for citizenship.
In 1849, the first anti-immigrant party was founded:
the Know Nothing Party. That was their name.
Completely serious. Because you weren't supposed
to know they existed.
They considered themselves “Native” Americans and
were anti-Catholic, anti-Irish, anti-German, anti-Jewish,
anti-immigration, anti-Black and Indigenous.
But they also, weirdly, were anti-slavery and believed in economic liberation of men and women.
The 19th century was wild.
In 1882, there was the precedent-setting
Chinese Exclusion Act and
the Immigration Act of 1924 that limited the number of
immigrants allowed into the U.S. based on
national origin quotas and excluded
any immigrants from Asia.
Yeah, there was a pretty good attempt to make immigrants almost exclusively from
northern and western Europe.
And, by the way, that just goes on and on and on throughout American history. In other words,
in addition to being founded on stolen land, in addition to being built through one of the worst systems of
enslavement — the United States has had an immigration system that hasn’t always been very welcoming.
In many ways, it's been designed to exclude, rather than to welcome.
So, let’s start there. Now, it’s no secret that perhaps one
of the biggest reasons for the dogma around Trump is
rooted in the fear-mongering around Muslims and
the 11 million undocumented people in this country.
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete
shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
We have to stop illegal immigration into this country.
It's killing our country.
When Mexico sends its people,
they’re not sending their best.
And thus, one of the defining features of the
Trump administration’s four-year tenure was the
overhaul of immigration.
While, again, the immigration system in the United States
has long been designed by bigotry, devoured by a
history of criminalizing entire groups of people based on
economic and foreign policy considerations,
the Trump administration was still able to do
something pretty remarkable.
And despite long being reputed as incompetent, the dismantling of legal immigration policies, in particular,
has been done pretty competently and with a lot of zeal.
And of course, the barely human manifestation of
Mephistopheles Stephen Miller has been at its helm.
-That is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant
and foolish things you've ever said.
Legal immigration in the United States has been cut by
44% since 2016, a number estimated to rise to a 49% cut
in 2021. Asylum seekers and refugees numbers have
also been gutted — check out this BBC chart that outlines
exactly how much refugee admissions have decreased
under the Trump administration.
Immigration by family members of citizens have been almost halved and even the diversity migration
program — which gives green cards to underrepresented communities — has been completely stopped.
Detainment at the Mexico border has increased and
H1-B visa petitions for highly skilled foreign nationals
now has a denial rate of 30% versus 6% in 2015.
And the “Muslim ban”? Well, Muslim refugee admissions
were also drastically down
under the Trump administration.
And, of course, then there were the
horrific family separations.
All that I just mentioned isn’t exhaustive of what’s happened under this administration — but what’s clear
is that the Trump administration worked excruciatingly hard to ensure a type of immigration overhaul
that resembled something out of the 19th century.
So, where does President Joe Biden fit into all of this?
That still feels weird to say.
Biden, during his campaign, promised to make immigration a priority — starting with
the so-called “Muslim ban.”
I will end the Muslim Ban on Day 1.
The list of campaign promises is long. Here you go.
We’ll just let this scroll a little. Screenshot it. Share it.
Biden even promised in September of last year that
if elected, he’d build a, quote “immigration system that
treats people with dignity and is true to American values.”
And just a couple of weeks ago, he said as soon as he takes office, he was going to introduce an
immigration bill that would, in addition to ending the “Muslim ban,” also create a pathway for citizenship
for Dreamers — undocumented Americans brought here as kids.
Regarding the separation of over 2,600 children from
their families, at the U.S.-Mexico border, Biden said
that the DOJ would investigate what happened and
determine not only who was responsible, but if
the actions were criminal.
And that's where it gets kind of interesting.
See, despite all these promises of a dignified immigration system and a rebuke to Trump, Joe Biden
was also the vice president for an administration which oversaw the highest number of deportations.
It oversaw violent ICE raids and family detention.
It oversaw kids in cages, infants and toddlers in what were then referred to as “baby jails.”
Here are the major immigration policies undertaken by the Obama administration, some of which the Trump
administration just built on and worsened.
Biden did state, during his campaign, in an interview with
Jorge Ramos that the Obama administration’s policy
of deporting hundreds of thousands of people without
criminal records was a, quote “big mistake” and that the
administration only started to get it right with DACA.
- I think it was a big mistake. Took too long to get it right.
It was painful, but it wasn't until 2012 that,
it just took too long and I think we got it right and he
began to get it right, we began to get it right
in 2012 with the DACA program.
But that is not enough. Because there’s a lot at stake.
In addition to the immediate danger that does exist to the lives of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of
thousands, of people — Biden hasn’t rebuked the immigration policies that he supported
while vice president.
Deporting hundreds of thousands of people, without criminal records, wasn’t a mistake — it was immoral.
And it was a systemic practice, not an “oops.”
It ripped families apart and it wasn’t done with some
nice, “Hello, please come with us, we’re taking you home.”
Are we expected to believe that violent ICE raids
started in 2017? That people coming across the
U.S./Mexico border, including children, were treated
with dignity and respect?
Until there’s a reckoning with that, how can you
begin to build a system of immigration that even
inches towards “dignity”?
Now, I know, “Sana, that is so bleak ... have you no hope?”
Realistically, no.
Biden may not have the courts, but he’s got executive orders, the House and the Senate to an extent.
He does have the opportunity to do some meaningful immigration reform — something that doesn’t just right
Trump’s wrongs, but improves the system itself.
There are 11 million undocumented people in this
country and a path toward citizenship isn’t always easy
or possible. That, at minimum, needs to be fixed.
And there are pragmatic reasons why the Democrats and the Biden administration would and could overhaul
at least some of Trump’s overhaul: the popularity of immigration, the economy and elections.
According to Gallup, the number of Americans who want
more immigration to the country has increased, in just
a year, from 27% to 34% — and the number of
Americans who want to see less, has decreased.
There are also economic considerations, as the
American economy is believed to get a lot worse
before it starts getting better — and immigration is
always great for the economy, right?
Undocumented immigrants provide the cheap labor
that this country runs on and
man, that is an awful thing to say out loud, but who do you think makes your $15 salad possible?
And then there are the elections — 2022 and 2024. It took a lot of mobilization to get voters out last year
and while I don’t think most people who voted for Biden voted for him as much as they voted against
Trump, there is still an expectation of “DO SOMETHING.”
But if they fail to rebuke, through significant reform,
some of Trump’s most insidious policies, the Democrats
and the Biden administration run two major risks.
They run the risk of not only pushing already exhausted and reluctant voters towards legitimate apathy but
also failing to show themselves as, well, an opposition.
Guys, that was great, thanks so much, man.
Woo! It was good doing journalism for four years.
All right.
No, we don't hold- no we don't hold Biden accountable.
That's not what we do here.
[Sana breaks character]