Biden protects Palestinians in the US from deportation
President Biden on Wednesday protected thousands of Palestinians in the United States from deportation for the next 18 months, using an obscure immigration authority, as he faces mounting criticism over US support for Israel in the Gaza war.
About 6,000 Palestinians are eligible for deferrals under a program called Deferred Enforced Departure, which allows immigrants whose home countries are in crisis to remain in the United States and work legally.
In a memo obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Biden said that “many civilians remain in danger” in Gaza after Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks.
“That is why I am directing the postponement of the removal of certain Palestinians present in the United States,” he said.
The decision comes as Biden faces pressure from the war, especially among Arab Americans who were once a reliable constituency for him. In recent weeks, pro-Palestinian groups have demonstrated outside his campaign stops, chanting “Genocide Joe.”
While Mr. Biden's criticism of the war has grown stronger since the Oct. 7 attack, the United States has given no indication that it plans major policy changes, such as placing conditions on billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Health, more than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war against Hamas. Much of Gaza lies in ruins as Israel bombs the area in retaliation for attacks on October 7, when Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in Israel.
Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, praised the decision to exempt Palestinians from deportation.
“There is an urgent need for this,” he said. “We see that the situation in Gaza and Palestine is not getting better, and this is something that is welcome, and we are happy to see this being implemented. We hope that other measures can be taken.”
There are some exceptions to Mr. Biden's order. Palestinians convicted of crimes or those “otherwise deemed to pose a threat to public safety” would not be protected from deportation, Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, said in a statement.
Some Republicans, meanwhile, have called for a crackdown on the Palestinians. Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana, a former Trump administration official, introduced legislation in November that would have revoked the visas of Palestinians and prevented them from receiving refugee status or asylum in the United States.
Mr. Biden's decision to protect Palestinians from deportation has been up in the air for some time. More than a hundred Department of Homeland Security employees signed an open letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas in the fall saying the agency should provide some protection to Palestinians.
Some Democrats in Congress have also called on the administration to find a way to protect Palestinians in the United States.
“In light of the ongoing armed conflict, Palestinians already in the United States should not be forced to return to the Palestinian territories, consistent with President Biden's stated commitment to protect Palestinian civilians,” they wrote in November in a letter signed by Senators Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and others.
Lawmakers said the population should be covered by Deferred Enforced Departure or a similar program known as Temporary Protected Status, which has been used to help people from Venezuela, Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere. (Delayed forced departure is currently being used to help people from Hong Kong and Liberia.)
Ahilan Arulanantham, director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, said the short-term practical effect was the same under both programs.
“Every eligible individual would have protection from deportation and the opportunity to obtain a work permit,” he said.
But he warned that the longer-term differences could be significant. Palestinians could be at greater risk of protection expiring in 18 years months because they are at the discretion of the President, Mr. Arulanantham said.
Temporary protected status, on the other hand, requires Department of Homeland Security officials to review the protection before it expires.
Earlier this month, Mr. Biden ordered financial and travel sanctions against four Israeli settlers accused of violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. While the war is concentrated in Gaza, there is also increasing violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and where more than 2.5 million Palestinians live.