Refugee families like mine cannot bear to wait much longer

President Biden should hold his promise to overturn his predecessor’s draconian immigration policies without further delay.

Since assuming office last month, President Joe Biden has signed several executive orders aimed at overturning his predecessor Donald Trump’s crackdown on refugees and asylum seekers. But he has also signalled that mending the damage done in the last four years will take time. Families like mine, who have been separated by the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies, however, cannot bear to wait much longer. I live in Idaho, as do my parents. My brother Tariq, sister Tarina and their families, however, are stuck in Peshawar, Pakistan, as refugees. My 73-year-old mother, a retired teacher, recently received a cancer diagnosis, and she is worried. She wants to be able to see and embrace her children again, before it is too late. My 83-year-old father feels the same.