PORTLAND, Ore. — There is a renewed sense of hope within the immigration community after President Biden, on his first day in office Wednesday, signed multiple executive orders, memos and proclamations addressing immigration issues.
"There's a lot of relief now and a lot of hope now," said Francisca Garfia, a communications director for CAUSA Oregon, an immigrant rights advocacy group.
"I've been hearing that a lot, that there's hope for this new administration and they've put a lot of faith into them keeping their promises."
Under the Jan. 20 memorandum, Biden promised to preserve DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that allows some undocumented immigrants in the U.S., brought to the country as children to receive a work permit.
"Oregon is home to 12,000 DREAMers and we know that this opportunity for potential residency and citizenship is a really big relief," said Garfia. "They've had DACA under constant attack and we know that quite a few people weren't able to apply even though they were eligible for it."
President Trump had tried unsuccessfully to dismantle the program, in 2020 the Supreme Court ruled against him.
"We're going to see people's lives who were really impacted and changed and they're going to be able to pursue so many things without that fear of deportation and feel really stable in being here," Garfia said.
Among the other pieces signed by President Biden, he halted construction on the southern border wall. It was a campaign promise by Trump during the 2016 election to build a wall along the U.S. - Mexico border.
"His executive orders seemed to focus on opening the southern border and ending the policies the Trump administration had in place that kept the southern border secure and controlled," said Kevin Hoar, communications director with the Oregon Republican party.
Biden's proclamation signed on Jan. 20, will cease all construction as soon as possible or in some cases within seven days of the signing.
The proclamation says, "Like every nation, the United States has a right and a duty to secure its borders and protect its people against threats. But building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution. It is a waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security."
Hoar says halting construction on the wall is a mistake.
"When you decide you don't want to have a wall covering a stretch that's neither a port of entry nor a place that cannot put a wall, then you're basically saying that we're just going to open up that section and not properly control it."
Biden also reversed a ban on travel to the United States that President Trump had placed on various countries. Hoar says doing so put the U.S. at greater risk.
"One thing we've seen over the last four years, President Trump did a pretty good job at protecting the country against Islamic extremist terrorists like ISIS who have said that's how they are going to come in," said Hoar. "Now this is being reversed, doesn't seem like the right time to be doing it anyway."
Biden's administration also halted deportations for some undocumented immigrants for the next 100 days.
Garfia said having the fear of being deported hanging over you can cause some, especially during a pandemic, to forgo seeing a doctor.
"That's something that isn't thought about as much, just how much fear pervades your life and how you're unable to do things that someone who is documented and who is protected legally isn't going to hesitate about," Garfia said.
Garfia, whose parents immigrated from Mexico in the late 1980s saw or heard first-hand how difficult the path to residency can be. She said she'll continue to push the current administration to streamline the process, which can be expensive and time-consuming.