![](\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/ricesusan_091522gn_w.jpg?w=900\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Rice, the head of the Domestic Policy Council, announced Monday she would step down from the post, a broad portfolio and one where she frequently gave input on immigration matters.<\/p>\n
That influence often caused frustration among lawmakers and immigration groups, many of whom saw Rice as a primary force behind some of the Biden administration\u2019s more hard-line immigration policies, including the continued use of Trump-era deterrent policies at the border.<\/p>\n
Nayna Gupta, associate director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center, said Rice\u2019s\u00a0departure will be\u00a0a \u201ccritical moment of transition for the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt offers the\u00a0president an opportunity to reevaluate what they\u2019re doing on immigration and to follow through on a lot of broken promises related to managing the border humanely,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cAnd to rethink how you respond to a migration challenge with a humanitarian lens rather than a hardline, hawkish punitive response, which is what seemed to be supported by Susan Rice in the Domestic Policy Council until now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rice was often reported to be behind various proposals to address migration with punitive measures at the U.S.-Mexico border, but the White House was careful to insulate her from public scrutiny on the matter.<\/p>\n
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.<\/p>\n
Former White House officials and congressional Democrats also tiptoed around Rice\u2019s influence on the administration\u2019s immigration policies, though in March,\u00a0Sen. Bob Men\u00e9ndez (D-N.J.) publicly vented his suspicions about Rice\u2019s involvement in a reported\u00a0proposal to reinstate family detention.<\/p>\n
The reluctance among Democrats to pick a fight with Rice was in part influenced by what many view as unfair treatment over the last decade.<\/p>\n
In 2012, Rice took herself out of the running for secretary of\u00a0state to avoid a lengthy and potentially damaging confirmation process as Republicans sought an Obama administration official to blame for the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya,\u00a0earlier that year.<\/p>\n
Those recriminations, and a new set of GOP attacks related to the 2016 presidential campaign, were held by Republicans over Rice\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
Rice was reportedly in the running to become\u00a0President\u00a0Biden\u2019s running mate in 2020 \u2013 that job ultimately went to Vice President Harris, though Rice\u2019s participation in a Biden administration was all but certain.<\/p>\n
As\u00a0in 2012 when former President Obama appointed her as national security adviser after her withdrawal from the State Department nomination, Rice took a top job that required no Senate confirmation as Biden\u2019s domestic policy\u00a0adviser.<\/p>\n
Still, Rice has often been a political lightning rod, and her departure from the administration coincided with the kickoff of Biden\u2019s reelection campaign.<\/p>\n
And a New York Times story on child labor recently identified Rice as the author of a note written atop a memo from immigration advocates that blamed TItle 42\u2019s block on adults seeking asylum as a factor in so many unaccompanied children travel<\/a>ing to their border without their parents.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is BS,\u201d Rice wrote about the memo\u2019s conclusion. \u201cWhat is leading to \u2018voluntary\u2019 separation is our generosity to UCs!\u201d<\/p>\n Some advocates did not mince words about their enthusiasm about her exit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re glad that Susan Rice is leaving as President Biden\u2019s domestic policy adviser,\u201d Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the\u00a0president is of course responsible for his own policies, Ms. Rice\u2019s tenure was marked by one bad White House decision after another on immigrants\u2019 and human rights. She bears much responsibility for the huge disconnect between the administration\u2019s lofty words about welcoming and respecting immigrants and its reprehensible anti-immigrant actions on the ground \u2014 particularly along the southern border.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA new adviser will give Mr. Biden an opportunity to do better. A chance to fix his broken promises. We expect him to take it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Rice took on her wide-ranging role at the Domestic Policy Counsel after a career largely centered in foreign affairs, culminating in her appointment as ambassador to the United Nations.<\/p>\n Her\u00a0departure does leave a significant knowledge and experience gap\u00a0 Despite the GOP political attacks and the friendly fire over her more hawkish stances, she is one of the more experienced policy thinkers available to a Democratic administration.<\/p>\n While her impressive resume lacked much in the way of specific immigration policy experience, many of the early immigration executive orders from\u00a0Biden laid considerable responsibility with the Domestic Policy Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n Angela Kelley, chief\u00a0adviser\u00a0for policy and partnerships at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, worked with Rice over the course of the first year of the administration when she was serving as senior counselor on immigration at the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n She said Rice\u2019s role in guiding immigration policy was more nuanced than is often believed.<\/p>\n \u201cShe came in without really any background in the issue. She had to jump in two feet first because of the saliency of immigration for the administration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis issue \u2013 you live in the gray, and it\u2019s very uncomfortable all of the time. And I think that that was frustrating to her, to have to live in the gray.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, Rice,\u00a0for more than a decade has highlighted the importance of immigration as a top domestic issue.<\/p>\n In an NBC News<\/a> interview discussing why she dropped out of State Department consideration in 2012, Rice listed the administration\u2019s priorities she didn\u2019t want disrupted by a contentious confirmation process.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking about: comprehensive immigration reform, balanced deficit reduction, job creation \u2014 that\u2019s what matters,\u201d said Rice.<\/p>\n Biden has yet to name Rice\u2019s successor, and whether her departure will lead to the moment of change some advocates seek remains to be seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some advocates have complained that the White House has been too involved in immigration policy, at times sidelining the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I hope is that to the extent that there\u00a0are\u00a0politicals in DHS who are promoting more progressive and effective and humane responses, that there will be room for those to actually be embraced by the administration, as opposed to the past two years, where it seemed to us that the White House made final calls \u2013 even when those were not aligned with what their own agency enforcing immigration laws was recommending,\u201d Gupta said.<\/p>\n But Kelley said others in the White House may now exert greater influence.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing forward, it may be that the center of gravity around these issues could shift to other parts of the White House,\u201d she said, calling immigration a high-profile issue for the Biden administration with \u201ca lot of cooks who are always in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think a fair-minded person who has background in the issue would be welcomed,\u201d she said, of a possible replacement.<\/p>\n Rice will leave the administration shortly after the end of Title 42\u00a0on May 11,\u00a0but Gupta said\u00a0she doesn\u2019t expect any immedia<\/a>te shift.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s anything we\u2019ve learned in the immigration, space, it\u2019s that it can always be far too soon to celebrate. It may be potential for change, but we don\u2019t know what that looks like,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have learned the hard way, our communities have learned the hard way, that even in these moments of transition sometimes we don\u2019t reap the positive policy decisions that we think are overdue.\u201d\n<\/p><\/div>\n If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nunfilled for<\/s>\u00a0in<\/strong>\u00a0the Biden administration.<\/p>\n\n
\n