Presidents’ Alliance Statement on Election Results: Incoming Administration, Congress, and Courts Must Aggressively Move to Protect Dreamers, International Students, and Refugees

PRESIDENTS’ ALLIANCE STATEMENT ON ELECTION RESULTS: INCOMING ADMINISTRATION, CONGRESS, AND COURTS MUST AGGRESSIVELY MOVE TO PROTECT DREAMERS, INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS, AND REFUGEES
Presidents’ Alliance calls on bold, pro-immigrant, pro-student agenda

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2020
Contact: Jose Magaña-Salgado (jose@presidentsalliance.org) 

Washington, D.C.—In response to the news former Vice President Joseph R. Biden has been elected President-elect in the 2020 election, the Presidents’ Alliance released the following statement:

Miriam Feldblum, Executive Director, Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, stated: “Having witnessed first-hand the harm caused over the past four years to our campuses, communities and nation through the anti-immigrant policies of the current administration, the Presidents’ Alliance calls upon the incoming administration to undertake a bold and aggressive agenda to expand protection and opportunity for immigrant and international students. To fulfill President-elect Biden’s promise to “build back better,” we know that our nation must include the diverse talent of our undocumented, immigrant and international student populations. We call upon the incoming administration to, on day one, restore Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to its full original terms and use Deferred Enforced Departure and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to protect upwards of 2.2 million undocumented people who cannot be safely returned to their home countries. We ask that the administration immediately pause and withdraw all proposed rules and regulations undermining international students and scholars, including the duration of status and H-1B related rules. We urge the administration to begin the hard work of rebuilding our nation’s refugee program. 

Finally, and most importantly, Congress and the incoming administration must, within the first one hundred days and on a bipartisan basis, at long last, enact immigration reform that establishes a roadmap to citizenship for our nation’s Dreamers, TPS holders, and undocumented individuals; and commit to immigration reform that recognizes the tremendous contributions of international students, scholars, and alumni. We must go beyond undoing the misguided policies of the current administration and implement a national recruitment and retention strategy so that we can compete effectively for the best international students and scholars to attend U.S. colleges and universities. Our nation will prosper and we will all be better for it.”

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The non-partisan, nonprofit Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration brings college and university presidents and chancellors together on the immigration issues that impact higher education. We work to advance just immigration policies and practices at the federal, state, and campus level that are consistent with our heritage as a ‘nation of immigrants’ and the academic values of equity and openness. The Alliance is composed of approximately 500 presidents and chancellors of public and private colleges and universities, representing over five million students in 42 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico.