5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable

Audit and rescind Biden-era USCIS policies in the first days

Partially done

Printed page 144 5. Department of Homeland Security

“During a transition period, a complete audit of agency policies, memoranda, and management directives issued during the Biden Administration should be completed, and rescission documents should be prepared for issuance within the first few days of the incoming Administration. Additionally, regulatory documents should be drafted to review or reverse all regulations promulgated during the Biden Administration.”

What has happened

Oct 14, 2026 Partially done
DHS proposed to remove 8 CFR 214.1(c)(5), USCIS's deference to a prior approval on the same facts when adjudicating an extension petition. The preamble traces the paragraph to the Biden administration: USCIS reinstated deference by policy in April 2021, after the 2017 rescission memorandum PM-602-0151, and "in December 2024, DHS codified its deference policy at 8 CFR 214.1(c)(5)" through the H-1B Modernization final rule (89 FR 103054). A second Biden-era USCIS regulation is now proposed for reversal, which is another piece of the sweep. It is a proposal (comments close 2026-11-13), and the audit is still not reported complete, so this stays `partial`.
- DHS proposed rule: Removing Deference to Prior USCIS Determinations of Eligibility
  Primary Executive branch Oct 14, 2026
Jul 20, 2026 Partially done
DHS rescinded the Biden administration's 2022 public charge rule outright, saying it "was not the best implementation of the statute" and "inconsistent with congressional intent". Together with the earlier terminations of the CHNV and family-reunification parole processes and the removal of automatic EAD extensions, at least one Biden-era USCIS regulation has been reversed by regulation, which is a piece of the sweep delivered. It is not `done`: no allowlisted statement says the audit is complete, and Biden-era USCIS policy manual guidance remains in force in areas the Quote covers.
- DHS final rule: Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility (rescinding the 2022 rule)
  Primary Executive branch Jul 20, 2026
- DHS notice: Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans
  Primary Executive branch Mar 25, 2025
- DHS interim final rule: Removal of the Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization Documents
  Primary Executive branch Oct 30, 2025
Jan 20, 2025 Attempted
EO 14159 section 16 directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to "promptly take all appropriate action, consistent with law, to rescind the policy decisions of the previous administration that led to the increased or continued presence of illegal aliens in the United States", naming parole, Temporary Protected Status and employment authorization as the areas to revisit. That is the audit-and-rescind instruction the Quote wants prepared for day one, issued on day one, with nothing yet rescinded.
- Executive Order 14159: Protecting the American People Against Invasion
  Primary Executive branch Jan 20, 2025

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

An open-ended “audit everything and rescind it” ask: under the leveling rules a government-wide directive alone is attempted, and the directive plus at least one documented rescission is partial.

Reviewed 2026-10-14. Two DHS documents of 2026-10-14, first read from their Federal Register abstracts only:

The final rule Removal of Automatic Extensions for Certain Employment Authorization Documents (FR 2026-20955) finalizes the 2025-10-30 IFR already cited in the partial event. Same rescission, one step further. It is recorded as an event on #328, and here as a note only.
The proposed rule Removing Deference to Prior USCIS Determinations of Eligibility (FR 2026-20941) would remove 8 CFR 214.1(c)(5), “which generally provides that USCIS gives deference to a prior approval involving the same facts when adjudicating a request to extend a petition”. If that paragraph was added by the Biden administration’s H-1B modernization final rule of December 2024, as we believed but had not yet read, the proposal is a second Biden-era USCIS regulation proposed for reversal, and the deference policy it codified is one of the Biden-era USCIS policies the Quote names. Two questions decided it: which rule added 214.1(c)(5), and when? Does the preamble recite the 2017 rescission and the 2021 reinstatement of deference by policy memorandum? If both Biden-era steps were confirmed, this would be a same-Status partial event (a proposal adds to the rescissions without completing the audit). If the paragraph predated 2021, it would be a note.

The answer, 2026-10-14. FR 2026-20941’s full text (federalregister.gov raw text, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/14/2026-20941/) was read. Its background answers both questions. USCIS deferred to prior approvals by policy from 2004, rescinded that in PM-602-0151 (2017-10-23), reinstated it in the Policy Manual in April 2021, and “in December 2024, DHS codified its deference policy at 8 CFR 214.1(c)(5)” through Modernizing H-1B Requirements… (89 FR 103054, 2024-12-18). Both the policy and the regulation are Biden-era, so the proposal gets a partial event of its own, dated 2026-10-14. Comments close 2026-11-13.

Action: rescind
Object: Biden Administration USCIS policies, memoranda and regulations
ID: 323