US President Joe Biden is temporarily shielding Palestinian immigrants in the country from being deported for at least 18 months, citing the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The president's latest executive order was issued on Wednesday and instructs federal immigration officials to refrain from deporting most Palestinian immigrants in the US He said that the months-long conflict in the Gaza Strip has made it too dangerous to send deportees there.
There are roughly 6,000 Palestinians who are eligible for the reprieve under a program known as Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). It allows immigrants whose homelands are in crisis to remain in the US and work legally.
In a memo, the Democratic president said that "many civilians remain in danger" in Gaza following the Hamas group's Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. He added that it was for that reason that he was directing the deferral of removal of certain Palestinians who are present in the country, as per the New York Times.
Biden's decision comes as he is facing pressure over the Israel-Hamas war, particularly among Arab Americans, who were previously considered reliable constituencies for him. In the past few weeks, pro-Palestinian groups have protested outside his campaign stops, chanting "Genocide Joe."
While the president's criticism of the Middle Eastern war has grown more forceful since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, the US has not signaled that it has plans for major policy changes. These include putting conditions on billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.
Gaza's health ministry said that Jerusalem's war in the Gaza Strip has already killed more than 28,000 Palestinians. The majority of the region has been left in ruins as Israel continues to bombard the territory in retaliation for the attacks made by the terrorist group.
The Hamas militant group has already taken hostage roughly 1,200 people during their initial attack on Israel. Despite Biden's new order, it would not affect those who are not already in the US. Furthermore, certain individuals, such as those convicted of serious crimes or deemed to be public safety threats, will also be excluded, according to CBS News.
Israel-Hamas War
Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that the new order will "provide protections for most Palestinians in the United States." The DED is one of the ways that administrations can protect immigrant groups from deportation without congressional action.
The president and his allies have used another, more well-known policy known as Temporary Protected Status to offer deportation protections and work permits to hundreds of thousands of migrants. These were those who came from crisis-stricken nations, such as Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin spearheaded the DED effort to urge Biden to grant some form of temporary legal status to Palestinians in the US. He argued that they should not be forced to return to Gaza amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The Middle Eastern war is already in its fifth month and the White House has voiced serious concerns about the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn region. It has also called on Israel to protect civilians, said The Hill.
