WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Wednesday announced it would accept up to 24,000 Venezuelans through a humanitarian parole plan, though the program’s scope is much narrower than a similar program for Ukrainians. .
The parole plan would grant Venezuelans a narrow legal route to the United States, and authorities hope those who qualify will apply for permission remotely and fly to the United States instead of making the dangerous trip to the border. southwest world.
The Department of Homeland Security also said it would expand its use of the public health rule to begin deporting Venezuelans who illegally crossed the U.S. border to Mexico.
Reliance on a Trump-era pandemic rule crystallized the Biden administration’s balancing act in both helping refugees and tightening border restrictions in the face of Republican attacks. on President Biden’s immigration policy and record numbers of people crossing the border illegally. And there is no guarantee that just 27 days before the midterm elections, it will have the desired effect.
To date, the majority of Venezuelans who cross the border into the United States have not been deported under the public health agency, known as Title 42. Instead, they are screened and temporarily released back home to face treatment. face removal proceedings in immigration court, where they have the option to apply for asylum.
Venezuelans applying for humanitarian parole must have someone in the United States demonstrate that they can financially support the migrant for up to two years. During the application process, the government will assess the sponsor’s finances and examine applicants, who will also be required to have certain vaccinations and comply with other public health requirements. Venezuelans who receive humanitarian amnesty will be temporarily allowed to work legally in the United States.
In addition, any Venezuelan who entered Mexico or Panama illegally or holds permanent residency, dual citizenship or asylum with another country is not eligible for the parole program. Venezuelans who have been released in the United States to face removal proceedings are also ineligible for the program.
The authorities say their plan for the Venezuelans is based on what they describe as the success of the United for Ukraine program, set up after Ukrainians – fleeing the Russian invasion – have found their way. to the US border from Mexico. The Biden administration since then welcome more than 100,000 Ukrainians, through parole and other resettlement measures. The Department of Homeland Security says there is no limit to how many Ukrainians can come to the country under the program.
While Ukraine’s program enjoys bipartisan support, Republicans have been less welcoming to Venezuelans, more than 150,000 of whom have been detained at the southwestern US border since October 2021. to the end of August.
“These actions make it clear that there is a lawful and orderly way for Venezuelans to enter the United States, and that legal entry is the only way,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a statement. about Wednesday’s new show. .
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The announcement of a new policy less than a month before the midterm elections was a calculated and political decision by the White House, said John Thomas, a Republican strategist.
“This is an attempt to appease people’s anger about what is happening at the southern border,” Mr. Thomas said. “It also lets the authorities know that they’re ‘doing something’.”
But it’s not clear that humanitarian parole and Title 42 expansion will significantly stem the number of people crossing the border, as Venezuelans make up only a small fraction of the migrants who cross the border illegally.
Immigrant rights advocates have urged the White House to create a humanitarian parole program for migrants from particularly volatile countries, including Venezuela.
However, they do not support a plan involving humanitarian parole to deport thousands of other Venezuelan migrants to Mexico’s treacherous northern border.
Raha Wala, deputy director of legislative advocacy at the National Immigration Law Center, said: “It would be nice to have expanded access to humanitarian pardons, but that doesn’t come at a cost. pay is additional harm to asylum seekers. “Title 42 is a cruel, Trump-era anti-immigrant policy that deserves to be trashed in history, not to be expanded.”
Out of poverty and political instability, more than 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2015, according to the United Nations. Most have gone to other South American countries.
But in the past year, more and more people are looking to the United States. In August, Venezuelans made up about 12% of those who crossed the southwestern border illegally. While the majority of migrants who do so are deported to their home countries or to Mexico under public health orders, the U.S. government has been unable to repatriate Venezuelans because diplomatic relations between Washington and Caracas are very poor. little. And – so far – Mexico is not yet ready to take in Venezuelans from the United States.
The humanitarian parole program announced Wednesday appears to be a much more limited version of previous proposals. Some of the people most recently under review last week included Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, according to officials briefed on the discussions. It was not immediately clear why these nationalities were removed.
Mr. Biden has overseen a record number of border crossings in a global movement with more evacuees than ever before. Since he was in office, the government has screened and released more than 1 million migrants who crossed the border illegally, allowing them to stay temporarily in the country until they face deportation proceedings in immigration court. The Biden administration has also deported migrants more than 2 million times under public health laws.
The Biden administration tried to stop using public health authorities earlier this year, but federal court stop it doesn’t do that. Now the administration has extended its powers of surrogacy.
But for vulnerable Democrats in border states, like Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, the ability to campaign in the direction of the recent expansion to Title 42 could be useful in a contested election. tight race, said Carl Fogliani, a Republican political strategist.
“They want them to be out there to say what a great development this is,” Fogliani said of the White House and Democrats working on border issues.
