Ever since election night, President Trump has been sowing discord and disinformation while showing himself to be the big sore loser he always has been. Basically, he’s been showing his true colors.

But his actions have real consequences. As he instructs many in his administration to avoid any contact with President-Elect Biden’s transition team, he is doing damage to the peaceful transfer of power. He’s also risking the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans as the country continues to struggle to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now, his actions are impacting the future of immigration reform.

Trump has instructed his immigration department to avoid working with the Biden transition team.

It is troubling and dangerous that agencies are instructing officials not to communicate with the Biden transition team; a smooth transition of power is crucial to our democracy, health and security. Hampering communication could have long-term impacts.https://t.co/2sxVw0OMRh

— Noah Bookbinder (@NoahBookbinder) November 17, 2020

As Trump’s General Services Administrator refuses to provide the Biden transition team with much-needed funds to begin preparing for office come January 20th, his immigration department is also keeping the transition team in the dark.

According to Buzzfeed News, an official that oversees US immigration and naturalization services told employees not to communicate with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team until a Trump appointee “deems the results ‘clear’” and recognizes the winner.

”It’s disturbing and disheartening that the agency is not permitting staff to aid the Biden transition team to ensure a smooth transfer,” said one USCIS employee who spoke on condition of anonymity. “These delays could hamper the new administration’s ability to hit the ground running on important issues facing the agency and our country.”

But the transition delay has also caused concern among officials in other agencies, especially those responsible for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

As president, Biden plans to undo many of Trump’s immigration reforms.

President-Elect Biden has made it very clear that we will govern very differently that his predecessor. One of the areas where he’s looking to truly separate himself from Trump is on immigration.

Already, the transition team has promised to unroll Donald Trump’s legacy on immigration, but it faces an uphill battle to make good on that promise.

When it comes to DACA, the administration plans to reinstate protections DREAMers, but also to expand protections for their health care and education. A threat to the DACA program is making its way through the courts, so the Biden camp is under pressure to act quickly to make good on its promise.

For Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, Biden plans to bring that to an end as well. It is estimated that 20,000 migrants are waiting in northern Mexico in cities like Matamoros while seeking asylum in the U.S. But the exact number is not known for certain, in large part because the Department of Homeland Security has not yet shared such data with the Biden transition team.

Another big change would come in the form of revamping the country’s seasonal worker program. Biden wants to make it easier for both employers and workers to hire and find jobs while providing much-needed legal protections and fair pay to workers.

Biden has also committed to increase the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. annually to 125,000, a historic high and a dramatic increase from the historic low of 15,000 set by the Trump administration.

Biden can use executive action on many fronts but others will require congressional action.

Although Biden can accomplish many of these immigration reforms through executive action, he’ll need to work with Congress to achieve many others.

His platform outlines larger goals to work on with Congress, such as increasing the number of employment-based visas, providing a path to legalization for the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country and creating a new, decentralized immigration stream for foreign workers that is based on local employers’ needs as well as a new visa option for entrepreneurs. 

These plans will be contingent on which party controls the Senate—to be decided in January by two runoff elections in Georgia—and the course of the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to spike across the country, leaving millions of workers unemployed.

Dreamers are celebrating President-Elect Biden’s plans but remain cautious.

While they aren’t eligible to vote, DACA recipients found ways to harness their political power ahead of the election. And it very much worked.

Over the course of the campaign, many politicans – including President-Elect Joe Biden – made serious promises to the nation’s immigrant population. And Dreamers show up, so if promises were made but progress isn’t, then DREAMers aren’t afraid to go show up in someone’s office and say, ‘Hey, I thought you were on our side.’

“Those are promises that would literally change my life,” said Mariana Castro, 26, a DACA recipient from Peru living in a mixed-status family in Florida.

So although much of the stress and weight has been lifted off immigrant communities shoulders with the results of this election, so much work remains to be done.

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A federal judge ruled that Chad Wolf was illegally appointed a head of Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The announcement is a major win for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration wrongly tried shutting down the DACA program.

A federal judge in New York delivered DACA recipients and advocates a major win.

Really great day for DACA.

Really bad day for Chad Wolf (some guy who has been pretending to have a job for over a year). https://t.co/UYkDg8rblJ

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) November 14, 2020

After more than a year, Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that Chad Wolf was unlawfully appointed as acting head of DHS. The ruling invalidates a memo Wolf released on July 28 suspending new applications for DACA recipients. The judge ruled that Wolf was not lawfully appointed because President Trump did not appoint Wolf in accordance with the law.

It is another loss for the Trump administration after losing the presidential election.

BREAKING: A federal judge just ruled that acting DHS head Chad Wolf was illegally appointed by Trump, hence invalidating his DACA suspension.

Trump just lost again.
America just won again!

— Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) November 14, 2020

Wolf’s memo directed at DACA affected million of young people trying to live, work, and go to school in the U.S. DACA recipients and activists have been fighting the federal government’s attack on the program for years. The Trump administration announced their first attempt to kill the program in September 2017.

People are celebrating the ruling for setting things right.

The Trump administration unlawfully undermined the DACA program, jeopardizing the futures of more than a million Dreamers.

This ruling is a great victory for so many families who have become an essential part of our nation. https://t.co/JUxOIjKX5m

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) November 14, 2020

“Today’s decision is another win for DACA recipients and those who have been waiting years to apply to the program for the first time,” said Karen Tumlin, director and founder of Justice Action Center, in a statement. “After the June Supreme Court victory, the Trump administration was bound to reset the DACA program to its original terms from 2012. Rather than doing that, the Trump administration gutted the program again—locking out young people who had been waiting years to apply and severely curtailing the program for existing DACA recipients. DACA recipients and immigrant youth deserve more—much more.”

The case has exposed a lot of questionable moments in Wolf’s appointment.

Oh look — DHS tells a Federal Judge it made false statements to the court regarding its efforts to claim that illegally appointed Chad Wolf was not illegally appointed.

Serious stuff; should be treated as such. pic.twitter.com/NV0QTGXT3p

— Todd Schulte (@TheToddSchulte) November 14, 2020

A brief states that it appears that the DHS told the Department of Justice that things might be different than what was presented. The brief highlights that DHS’s claim that the person who appointed Wolf was himself appointed at a different time casting doubt on the series of events that led to Wolf’s confirmation by the Senate.

Attorneys are ready to help people renew and submit their DACA paperwork.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garufis rules that DHS Secretary Chad Wolf's memo on #DACA is invalid.

If you're ready to renew DACA, we're ready help you!
👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽#HomeIsHere pic.twitter.com/aFQ4bF6gG9

— Abogada Kate (@LincolnGFinch) November 16, 2020

If you or someone you know needs help with their DACA paperwork and submitting paperwork, click here for a list of resources. You can also reach out to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center for help with your DACA needs.

READ: President Trump Falsely Claimed That Covid Is To Blame For Ending DACA

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