The United States will allow the entry of up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela each month, but will tighten restrictions on those who try to cross the border with Mexico without the necessary documentation.
The new procedure is “orderly, safe and humane” and will “substantially reduce” the number of people trying to enter U.S. territory illegally, the president said Thursday. Joe Biden when presenting the plan with which he intends to tackle the migration crisis on the southern border.
“These measures will expand and accelerate the legal channels for orderly migration and will have new consequences for those who do not use those legal channels,” the White House had indicated in a statement published moments before the president’s intervention.
The quota of migrants will be limited to those who have a sponsor financier who is already in the US (individuals or representatives of organizations) and have passed a background investigation, pass a security investigation and prove that they are vaccinated against Covid-19 and meet other health requirements, which will allow them to will allow you to live and work in the countryis for two years.
Y those who try to enter illegally will be expelled under the sanitary norm known as Title 42 with the intervention of the police and in coordination with Mexico.
Biden urged those who want to migrate to use the new procedure instead of trying to get to the country on their own.
“Don’t show up at the border. Stay where you are and request (access) legallyBiden said.
“If your application is approved, you will be able to enter. If it is denied or you attempt to cross into the United States illegally, you will not be allowed access.”
Applications must be made starting this Friday on-line, through the CBP One app, which allows potential asylum seekers to schedule an arrival at a US port of entry. Those who are denied or attempt to cross illegally will not be eligible for the program in the future.
A similar program for Venezuelans was launched in October, with a quota of 24,000 a year, which in turn was based on a plan for Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia. Now the model is being extended to other nationalities with the aim of alleviating migratory pressure on the southern border of the United States.
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This is the new plan, point by point:
- It consists of the extension of the temporary exception to Title 42 that until now applied to Venezuelans and Ukrainians.
- From now on you can also opt for it Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans.
- The US will allow access for up to 30,000 citizens of those countries per month.
- To be eligible for the program, you must have a financial sponsor who is already in the US, pass a background investigation, pass a security investigation and prove that you have been vaccinated against covid and that you meet other health requirements.
- Potential sponsors (individuals or representatives of organizations) must submit an application to the Department of Homeland Security starting this Friday, January 6, declare their financial support, and pass a background investigation to “avoid exploitation and abuse.”
- Migrants who wish to take advantage of the program and meet the requirements will have to schedule arrival at a US port of entry through a free online app, CBP One.
- They will be able to access through certain ports of entry: Nogales (Arizona), Brownsville, Hidalgo, Laredo, Eagle Pass and El Paso (Texas), Calexico and San Ysidro (California).
- During their inspection process, non-citizens must verbally attest to their covid vaccination status and provide, if requested, proof of covid-19 vaccination in accordance with vaccination requirements.
- Applications will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and those who get the green light will have permission to live and work in the country for up to two years.
- People who enter the US, Mexico or Panama without authorization after this Thursday’s announcement will not be eligible for the process in the future.
- Those who do not adhere to the plan and try to access US territory illegally will be expelled based on the health rule called Title 42.
- Migrants who cannot be removed under Title 42 will be prosecuted under Title 8, under which the Immigration and Nationality Act, enacted in 1952, is codified.
- This norm, which has also been in force during all this time, determines that it must be evaluated in each case if there is a credible fear of being persecuted in the country of origin in order to request asylum in the United States. If it is established that there is not , deportation is immediate.
- Those removed under Title 8 are barred from entering the country for five years and may face criminal prosecution if they attempt to do so.
“Success” of the plan for Venezuelans
As reported this Thursday by the Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, at a press conference to explain the details of the plan, the expansion is based on the “success” of the plan for Venezuelan immigrants as of October last year.
“A simplified legal pathway has been shown to reduce irregular migration and facilitate safe and orderly migration.”
According to the authorities, thanks to plan for Venezuelans has reduced by 90% the number of migrants of that nationality arriving at the bordera “dramatic” drop in the number of those who “choose to risk their lives using traffickers.”
The record numbers of migrant arrivals and detentions have given Biden a growing political headache.
More than two million people were arrested trying to cross the border in the last fiscal year, which ended on September 30, an increase of 24% over the previous year.
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Of the total arrests, close to 500,000 corresponded to Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan citizens.
Title 42
Those migrants who do not have a sponsor and attempt to enter the US illegally will be expelled based on Title 42.
This title, an old public health rule activated during the presidency of donald trumpallowed migrants to be expelled due to the coronavirus health emergency without them having the opportunity to request asylum.
According to US authorities at the time, it was introduced to help prevent the spread of covid-19 in detention centers.
After the pandemic, the measure, however, is maintained so that asylum seekers to the United States can process in Mexico.
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From the organizations that advocate for the rights of migrants, it was accused of being a “anti-immigration policy disguised as a measure to protect health”.
Since it came into force in March 2020, based on this rule, migrants have been expelled from the US more than 2.4 million times without being able to apply for asylum.
Title 42 was applied disproportionately to those of nationalities that Mexico agrees to receive: in addition to its own citizens, Guatemalans, Hondurans, Salvadorans and more recently Venezuelans.
In the last fiscal year alone, of those returned across the border, 962,000 came from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and less than 10,000 from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
Eliminating Title 42 was one of Biden’s main campaign promises, and a federal judge in Washington had set December 21 as the deadline to deactivate it, considering it “capricious” and “arbitrary.”
But after an emergency appeal presented by a series of states with Republican governments to keep it in force and thus avoid “exacerbating the catastrophe that is already occurring on the southern border,” court Supremea I kept ituveither.
Now, the Department of Homeland Security is adopting the new measure in light of the “failure of Congress to give the green light to the immigration reform proposed by President Biden from his first day” in office, he said Thursday. Mayorkas.
“Congress, legislate, and fix an immigration system that everyone agrees is broken,” he claimed.
The new announcement comes a day after Biden reported that on Sunday he will visit El Paso, Texas, one of the border towns that suffers the most from migratory pressure.
He will do so on his way to Mexico, where he will participate in the North American Leaders Summit, the annual trilateral meeting between the prime minister of Canada and the presidents of Mexico and the US.
The federal government reported the intention to accept at least 20,000 refugees from Latin America and the Caribbean in the 2023-2021 fiscal year.
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