By Felicia J. Persaud
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. Dec. 30, 2024: In 2021, over 187 organizations – including the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch – wrote to the Biden administration urging President Joe Biden to exercise his pardon power to address immigration consequences. Their call was two-fold: first, to pardon immigrants with deportable convictions to spare them from removal, and second, to ensure that clemency recipients also receive protection from immigration detention or deportation.
Now, as President Biden nears the end of his presidency and has exercised his pardon power to include his son and 1,500 others, it is the perfect moment to revisit this plea. Biden should extend this power to collectively pardon non-criminal undocumented immigrants, DREAMers, and those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) – individuals who have spent years contributing to this country, paying taxes, and building lives, but who now face the threat of being deported under a Donald Trumpeto administration.
In a historical parallel, former President Jimmy Carter’s first official act was to grant a blanket pardon to individuals who evaded the Vietnam War draft, framing it as a step toward healing the nation’s wounds. While controversial, Carter’s action was a bold assertion of presidential mercy. It is now time for Biden to channel Carter’s boldness and offer a similar pardon to millions of immigrants at risk before January 19th.
Boston immigration attorney Matt Cameron noted that the U.S. Constitution allows the president to pardon “Offenses against the United States,” which could encompass civil violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act. On his podcast, Opening Arguments, Cameron asserted, “It has never been used that way, but I agree that it should be.” He also highlighted that a mass pardon could provide immigrants with a clear pathway to citizenship.
“There’s also a major side benefit to this blanket pardon,” Cameron explained. “Penalties for periods of unlawful presence would not be applied, which would immediately help every undocumented person married to a U.S. citizen. This could bypass the need for the grueling 10-year wait outside the U.S. or the uncertain hardship waiver process.”
Legal scholars Peter L. Markowitz and Lindsey Nash echoed this sentiment in the NYU Law Review years earlier, in 2018. They wrote, “While direct categorical application of the pardon power to civil immigration offenses has no immediate precedent in history, it accords with the very purpose for which Presidents have, for centuries, issued categorical pardons: to use their inherent power of mercy and duty to promote the national interest to alleviate the toll of harsh laws on politically unpopular groups.”
The scholars further argued that the pardon power was enshrined by the Framers of the Constitution as a necessary check against overly harsh laws enacted by Congress. “The pardon power serves as an essential backstop to avert unduly harsh negative consequences of legislative enactments,” they wrote.
As harsh immigration laws continue to devastate families and traditional policy mechanisms remain stalled, President Biden has a rare opportunity to act. By granting a collective pardon, he could protect millions from the looming threat of deportation under a Trumpeto presidency and cement his legacy as a champion of justice and compassion.
It is time for Joe Biden to wield his power in these waning days to save immigrants from the Grinch threatening to steal their futures, while solidifying his place in history with a lasting act of mercy.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focused on positive news about Black immigrant communities from the Caribbean and Latin America.
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