Faced with a limited window of opportunity, a coalition of 138 civil, human, and immigrant rights groups is calling on President Joe Biden to act now to protect immigrants from President-elect Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations.
In a letter to Biden obtained by The Hill, the groups say the president can use the power of executive action to shield immigrants from the incoming Trump administration's immigration enforcement crackdown.
"There's no doubt Donald Trump will impose far-reaching changes on our immigration system, dismantle legal pathways and reshape immigration enforcement as we know it," the groups wrote. "There's no time to waste."
The nation's "immigrant communities are at a crossroads," they wrote, as Trump "threatens to make his campaign promises to return to a cruel and chaotic immigration system a reality."
"The lives of American families — our neighbors, small business owners, farmworkers — hang in the balance so we urge the Biden-Harris administration to meet the urgency of the moment with immediate actions to protect vulnerable immigrant families, TPS [Temporary Protected Status] holders, Dreamers and others who are at risk of mass deportation and family separation," they wrote.
Hundreds of thousands to millions could essentially become undocumented overnight if Trump is successful at ending or substantially scaling back temporary or humanitarian protections, such as TPS and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
The groups are asking Biden to ensure that those who are eligible for temporary programs are not encumbered by the immigration detention system, where they could easily be targeted for deportation.
They're also encouraging the Biden administration to accelerate TPS and Deferred Enforced Departure sign-ups, which are available to foreign nationals of certain countries that are either experiencing man-made or natural disasters or that the federal government has deemed too dangerous for repatriation.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, the government has approved 863,880 TPS grants; however, because of attrition, the number of active beneficiaries is likely lower.
On top of their other requests, the coalition groups want the Biden administration to quickly process outstanding renewal applications and advance parole requests for DACA beneficiaries, which allow them to travel internationally and then return to the United States.
Additionally, the groups are seeking protections for seasonal workers and farmworkers, as well as work permit renewals and protections for refugees.
According to The Hill, the coalition's groups include the Service Employees International Union, Latino Victory Fund, Voto Latino, Indivisible, CASA, Faith In Action, Amnesty International, MomsRising, Make the Road, and Human Rights First among others.