From the BBC:
“Biden announces new plan to
tackle border crisis”
More than 2.5 million migrants
have been expelled under Title 42 since 2020. US President Joe Biden is
announcing a new plan to accept up to 30,000 migrants each month in a bid to
tackle the border crisis. Authorities will also expand expulsions under Title
42, a controversial Trump-era policy that has blocked thousands at the
US-Mexico border. The new policy will apply to asylum seekers from Cuba,
Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela. It is modelled on existing programmes for
Venezuelans and Ukrainians. The announcement comes a day after Mr Biden said he
would visit the border next week on his way to Mexico, where he will
participate in the North American Leaders' Summit.
Record number of migrant
detentions at the US-Mexico border have presented a growing political headache
for Mr Biden. More than two million people were detained at the order in the
2022 fiscal year that ended on 30 September - a 24% jump from the previous
year. In December, detentions at the border averaged between 700 and 1,000 each
day, not including an increasing number of migrants attempting to leave Cuba
and Haiti by sea. Citizens of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua - which are facing
both economic problems and political repression - accounted for nearly 500,000
of the total.
As part of the new humanitarian
"parole" programme, citizens of Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti will be
offered an expanded legal pathway to apply to enter the US, where they will be
allowed to live and work for up to two years. To be eligible, migrants must
have financial sponsors already in the US, and pass security vetting. At the
same time, migrants who cross the border illegally will rapidly be sent back to
Mexico under Title 42, which gives the government power to automatically expel
undocumented migrants seeking entry. The policy - which has already been
applied 2.5 million times since being implemented as a public health measure in
March 2020 - was due to expire in December, but was kept in place by a Supreme
Court ruling.
Previously, Mexico's government
only accepted the return of its own citizens under Title 42, along with
citizens of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. In October, however, Mexico
agreed to accept Venezuelan citizens as part of a programme that saw the US
commit to allowing 24,000 people to enter the US legally. On Thursday,
administration officials said that the new programme "builds on the
success" of the one aimed at Venezuelans. "Coupling consistent
consequences for those who cross our border with a streamlined legal pathway is
proven to reduce irregular migration and facilitate safe, orderly
migration," one official told reporters. Officials say the Venezuelan
programme led to a 90% drop in the number of Venezuelans arriving at the
US-Mexico border, and a "dramatic" drop in the number of migrants who
choose to risk their lives by using human smugglers.
^ I’m not sure this new plan will
work, but at least its finally something after having done nothing for a year. I
don’t think Cubans, fleeing Communist Cuba, should be included with the
Haitians or Venezuelans. Cubans should continue to be treated as they had been
since the 1960s. ^
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