A few weeks ago, President Biden signed an executive order mandating a comprehensive review of the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programs for Afghan and Iraqi translators.

The announcement was overdue.

After risking their lives to help the United States, many loyal interpreters have been left stranded in an visa processing limbo and remain stuck in increasingly vulnerable living situations.

Immigration law has many quirky rules.

In some cases, this is because laws and customs in other countries do not match up with laws and customs in the United States.

Take polygamy.

Long condemned in the U.S., polygamy has been practiced in over 81% of societies across the world.

As a result, husbands and wives lawfully wedded abroad are often left behind when they seek permanent resident status.

The fundamental premise behind Temporary Protected Status is quite simple.

If the United States is truly the leader of the free world, it has a political obligation to lend a helping help to less fortunate nations.

Especially in their moments of crisis.

Like Syrian citizens who have escaped from a brutal civil war in their home country.

All that is gold does not glitter. Not even wedding rings, especially from second spouses.

Because marriages are one of the easier paths to winning permanent residence, they invite close immigration scrutiny.

An immigrant’s second marriage prompts extra caution.  Besides assessing the authenticity of the current union, government officers probe the first marriage and divorce for indicators of marriage fraud.

On December 20, 2019, immigrant advocates celebrated the birth of the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness program.

In their view, the precarious nature of laws which had kept Liberians in the United States had come to an end.  Seven months later, Liberian immigrants began to worry about the program’s termination.

On December 30, 2020, shortly before a new year was ushered in, the program was extended to 2021.

U.S. immigration law has many policy potholes.

Citizenship rules for adopted immigrant children is one such problem.

Brought here as youngsters, thousands end up living their adult lives without a country they can truly call home.

You’ve rushed to make it to your green card interview on time.  You ate a skimpy toast and jelly breakfast before you headed out.  You carefully avoided reckless speedsters and lane changers on the freeway and then manuevered around large trucks on the streets moving slightly faster than a wounded snail.  You breath a sigh of relief.  You’re on time.

You’re ready for your big moment.  You’re glad that you took time to put your face mask in your purse the night before and your papers are loosely thrown together in a tote bag.   All you need now is for the others to arrive.  You walk up to the security guards.

Little do you suspect that you have already run afoul of the new COVID-19 rules for USCIS interviews.

Joe Biden was in Florida over the past weekend. While there, he visited both Little Haiti and Little Havana, communities with distinct political views.

Although the issues at the two events differed, together they paint a picture of how the Biden presidency plans to handle immigration policy.

Looking forward, the potential for program reversals from the Trump era is ample reason for all immigrants living in the U.S. to support the Biden-Harris ticket.

On September 14, 2020, the Ninth Circuit of Appeals struck a near-fatal body blow to the dreams of the Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries, leaving many of them groping for air as the program nears its death bed.

Though more vulnerable than ever before, TPS beneficiaries need not give up the fight.

However, to survive, they must realize that their best defense is a good offense.