Biden shields Palestinians in the US from deportation

California – President Joe Biden on Feb 14 shielded 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 the reprieve under a programme called Deferred Enforced Departure, which allows immigrants whose homelands are in crisis to remain in the US and work legally.

In a memo obtained by The New York Times, Mr Biden said that “many civilians remain in danger” in the Gaza Strip after

the Oct 7 attacks by Hamas.

“Therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Palestinians who are present in the United States,” he said.

The decision comes as Mr Biden faces pressure over the war, particularly among Arab Americans, who were once a reliable constituency for him.

In recent weeks, pro-Palestinian groups have been demonstrating outside his campaign stops, chanting “Genocide Joe”.

While Mr Biden’s criticism of the war has grown more forceful since the Oct 7 attack, the US has not signalled that it plans major policy changes such as putting conditions on billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.

Israel’s war against Hamas has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Much of Gaza has been left in ruins as Israel bombards the territory in retaliation for the attacks Oct 7, when

Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in Israel.

Mr Abed Ayoub, the executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, praised the decision to exempt Palestinians from deportation.

“There is a desperate need for this,” he said. “We see the situation in Gaza and Palestine is not getting better, and this is something that is welcome, and we are glad to see it implemented. We hope other measures can come into place.”

There are some exemptions to Mr Biden’s order.

Palestinians who have been convicted of felonies or those “who are otherwise deemed to pose a public safety threat” would not be protected from deportation, Mr Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s national security adviser, said in a statement.

Some Republicans, meanwhile, have pushed for a crackdown on Palestinians.

Representative Ryan Zinke, a former Trump administration official, introduced legislation in November 2023 that would have revoked visas from Palestinians and prevented them from receiving refugee status or asylum in the US.

Mr Biden’s decision to shield Palestinians from deportation has been in the works for some time.

More than 100 staff members at the Department of Homeland Security signed an open letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the fall, saying the agency should extend some protections to Palestinians.

Some congressional Democrats have also called on the administration to find a way to protect Palestinians in the US.

“In light of 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 protecting Palestinian civilians,” they wrote in November in a letter, which Senators Richard Durbin of Illinois, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and others signed.

The lawmakers said the population should be covered under Deferred Enforced Departure or a similar programme known as Temporary Protected Status, which has been used to help people from Venezuela, Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere.

(Deferred Enforced Departure is being used to help people from Hong Kong and Liberia.)

Professor Ahilan Arulanantham, a director of the Centre for Immigration Law and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, said the short-term practical effect was the same under both programmes.

“Every qualifying individual would have protection from deportation and the ability to obtain employment authorisation,” he said.

But he cautioned that the longer-term differences could be significant. Palestinians could be more at risk of having the protections lapse in 18 months because they are at the discretion of the president, Prof Arulanantham said.

Temporary Protected Status, by contrast, requires agency officials at the Department of Homeland Security to assess the protections before they expire.

In February, Mr Biden ordered financial and travel sanctions on four Israeli settlers accused of violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

While the war is centred in Gaza, there is also growing violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and is home to more than 2.5 million Palestinians. NYTIMES