On June 18, Joe Biden announced an executive order that enables about 500,000 undocumented immigrants in the U.S. to apply for permanent legal residency. This is out of an estimated 10.3 million who live in the U.S.

Biden’s order enables a small fraction of immigrants in this country to possibly obtain legal status after decades of living and working “in the shadows”—less than five percent, or 1 out of 20. For the next few months, that small fraction of immigrants who may end up qualifying for permanent residency will not have to live with the threat of deportation hanging over their heads every minute of every day. If this is actually carried out, it would make a huge difference in some people’s lives.

But given the long history of brutal exploitation, demonization and severe repression against immigrants, it’s important to be sober: to take a cold look at what was done and why, and where the interests of the people lie.

What the New Order Does—and Does NOT—Do

Erica Schommer, a law professor at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, emphasized that Biden’s order “is not some sort of blanket amnesty that just automatically converts a whole bunch of people into residents or citizens.” Later this summer, when the order is implemented, some undocumented spouses of legal immigrants will be able to apply for this process. The Department of Homeland Security will examine all applications on a case-by-case basis. Applicants will have to prove they have been married to a U.S. citizen, have been living in the U.S. for at least 10 years, are not on parole, and do “not pose a threat to public safety or national security.” Again, this bill will cover less than 1 out of 20 of the undocumented immigrants now living in the U.S. The other 19 will continue to live lives in the shadows—with no rights, no protection, super-exploited and often downright robbed by employers, and subject to being deported at a moment’s notice.

There’s another hitch. As Schommer also pointed out, Biden’s executive order could stop at any time: “… certainly someone else in the White House could end any such program.” 

And guess what? Fascist-in-Chief Donald Trump, who has threatened to shut down the border “on day one” of his presidency if he comes to power, has already vowed to reverse Biden’s order. 

Why Did Biden Do This?

Just a couple of weeks ago, Biden issued another executive order on immigration— he shredded the longstanding right of refugees to seek asylum in the U.S. As Revolution wrote, “This is an extreme measure—the most extreme anti-immigrant policy that a Democratic president has ever signed into law. And it will result in more suffering and death.”

Millions of people worldwide do not risk rape, murder, horrible deaths by suffocation in smugglers’ trucks or dying on leaky boats for a vacation. They are desperate. Why? Because the U.S., along with the other “great powers,” has plundered their economies—taking their natural resources, seizing their lands, and forcing millions of people to either work for below-survival wages or hustle on the streets. Because the U.S., along with the other “great powers,” has destroyed their environments. Because the U.S. has invaded time after time, installing puppets of imperialism. And these puppets rule with even more violence and fewer rights for the people than the U.S. rulers do. “What the U.S. spreads around the world is not democracy, but imperialism and political structures that enforce that imperialism.” That’s a quote from Bob Avakian, and that single sentence speaks volumes.

Most of those driven here to live in the shadows sharply feel the terrible injustice every day, while they are exploited to the benefit of the capitalists—as part of the same system of capitalism-imperialism that is forcing people in their millions to flee their own countries. And some people within the imperialist countries also hate this oppression and would like to see more humane treatment for all these people. The Democrats usually play the role of pacifying those sections of people by promising reforms—while continuing to enforce the same unjust system. 

Those people who do want justice for immigrants and look to the Democrats for help were outraged by Biden’s executive order banning asylum. 

The Current Order: A Desperate Attempt to Bring People Back “Under the Wing” of the Democrats… and the System

This new order is designed to bring these people back under the wing of hoping and working for something that the masses of people cannot get under this system: basic justice and a better life.

So let’s recap: A few weeks ago, Biden launched a massive attack against the immigrant masses. Then, in the face of outrage and disillusionment, he came back with a concession that could benefit as many as 1 out of 20 of the undocumented people now living in the shadows. 

This is NOT a solution, and this is not something to be grateful for. This is taking away rights with a steam shovel… and then giving concessions with an eyedropper.

We need a whole different way.

There IS an Actual Way Out of This Madness

The world does not have to be divided between a handful of imperialist countries and a huge majority of nations and peoples which those countries oppress. And we do not have to endlessly choose between the horrifically violent repression of Trump and the fascists, and the more “legal” and refined ways in which the Democrats enforce the same system and the same basic injustice.

There is a Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian, that lays out very clearly how a revolutionary state could move to a whole different world. This Constitution spells out how all people residing in this new Republic at the time of its founding would be accorded citizenship (unless they had played a leading role in opposing the revolution or had been found guilty of war crimes). And it lays out a clear legal principle of welcoming “immigrants from all over the world who have a sincere desire to contribute to the goals and objectives of this Republic.” 

That’s not all. Bob Avakian has also brought forward a strategy on how to make the revolution we would need to bring in that New Socialist Republic “in this time, not in some far-off distant time.” This strategy is broken down in basic and understandable terms here. You can read it, or you can listen to it being read by BA. 

If you care, truly care, about the immigrants… if you are sick of being kept on a treadmill and constantly played… if you feel caught between the hypocrisy of the Democrats and the outright brutal repression promised by Trump… then don’t you have a responsibility to check THIS out?