The Biden administration on Thursday announced a new legal pathway for up to 30,000 migrants per month from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua to temporarily come to the United States, as officials also prepare to expel more people at the border under pandemic-related restrictions.
What You Need To Know
- The Biden administration on Thursday announced a new legal pathway for up to 30,000 migrants per month from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua to temporarily come to the United States
- It’s a new effort that senior administration officials said they expect will relieve pressure at the border by focusing on the populations who have most often claimed asylum in recent months
- The U.S. will also now expel up to 30,000 migrants a month from the qualified countries back to Mexico if they try to cross the border unlawfully
- It reflects a shift in Mexico’s willingness to absorb some of the pressure of migration at the southwest border, days before President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City
It’s a new effort that senior administration officials said they expect will relieve pressure at the border by focusing on the populations who have most often claimed asylum in recent months.
Agents have encountered record numbers of people arriving at the dividing line with Mexico, including an average of 7,000 to 9,000 per day in December.
The program that begins Thursday builds on one implemented in October for Venezuelan migrants, which allowed 24,000 people with family in the U.S. to arrive under temporary humanitarian parole. Any Venezuelan who crossed illegally into Panama or Mexico was ineligible.
Venezuelan arrivals at the border dropped by about 90% after that, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday.
The new, expanded program has the same caveat, and migrants are encouraged to apply from inside their home country instead.
Plus, the U.S. will also now expel up to 30,000 migrants a month from the qualified countries back to Mexico if they try to cross the border unlawfully.
It reflects a shift in Mexico’s willingness to absorb some of the pressure of migration at the southwest border, days before President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City.
Before that meeting, Biden is also scheduled to travel to El Paso, Texas, this Sunday to “address border enforcement operations” and meet with local authorities, a senior administration official said. It will be his first visit to the border as president.
The new pathway for Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans is sure to receive conflicting reactions from immigration advocates, who have pointed to temporary parole programs as an inadequate alternative to asylum protections. Asylum is a legal form of protection for migrants who arrive on U.S. soil and have a valid fear of persecution.
