Asylum for Hongkongers but not Hondurans?
Political calculation trumps compassion as Biden allows Hongkongers to stay, but not Central Americans fleeing violence.
Last week, the Biden Administration announced it would grant Chinese residents from Hong Kong protections against deportation, citing China’s implementation of a new national security law in the semi-autonomous city-state. Known as “deferred enforced departure,” the policy would exempt thousands of Hongkongers residing in the United States from deportation for at least 18 months. Advocates for the undocumented have petitioned the president to extend the same status to people from Central America fleeing violence and natural disasters.
Nevertheless, asylum-seekers continue to be expelled at record numbers while hundreds of thousands living in the country under temporary protected status could be deported when it expires.
When he took office in January, Biden attempted to signal a clean break with the xenophobic politics of his predecessor. The flurry of executive orders he issued on day one was heralded in the press as the dawn of a new day for immigration policy.
But despite all the promises and flowery rhetoric about working “to heal the wounds inflicted on immigrant communities,” it’s been…
