Biden Extends Protection for Hong Kong Residents in the US

Before leaving office, U.S. President Biden on Jan. 15 extended the “Deferred Enforcement Departure Program” (DED) for some Hong Kong residents in the United States for two more years, allowing them to remain in the country after their visas expire. Biden said the extension was in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) continued erosion of human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong. “I am therefore directing an extension and expansion of the deferral of removal of certain Hong Kong residents, regardless of their country of birth, who are present in the United States,” the president said. Biden said that the extended DED program may apply as long as these people were still living in the United States when they signed this memorandum....