Gregory Chen (’98), Senior Director of Government Relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, was quoted in the Washington Examiner pointing to Biden’s regression on immigration policy, including continuing to turn away asylum seekers in pandemic under Title 42 and the expansion of immigration detention and for-profit detention centers under his administration (“Biden Immigration Promises after One Year: Border Chaos and Frustrated Liberals,” Jan. 14). “In his first year, the president took swift action to halt some of the most harmful and legally indefensible policies of his predecessor. But with each step forward, the president also took major steps backwards. . . . It is absolutely indefensible that the president has stood behind a CDC ban on asylum-seekers put in place by his predecessor using falsely justified and now widely discredited public health statements.” Regarding the lack of Covid-19 protections for immigrants in detention, Gregory noted, “During COVID, the administration continued to detain people unnecessarily in facilities that became Petri dishes for widespread infection, and it failed to provide vaccines and adequate protection for people detained in facilities.” And with fewer than 500 immigration judges appointed, Gregory called on Biden to address the backlog in adjudication. “The president needs to take far more aggressive action to eliminate the 1.5 million case backlog that is keeping people waiting years for decisions.”