WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will 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 pathway to the United States, and the administration hopes those eligible will apply remotely and fly to the United States rather than make the dangerous journey to the United States. ‘on the southwestern border.
The Department of Homeland Security also said it would expand its use of a public health rule to begin deporting Venezuelans who cross the U.S. border illegally to Mexico.
Resorting to a Trump-era pandemic rule has crystallized the balance of the Biden administration in both helping refugees and tightening border restrictions in the face of Republican attacks on President Biden’s immigration policy and the record number of illegal border crossings. And there is no guarantee that with just 27 days to go until the midterm elections, it will have the desired effect.
So far, the majority of Venezuelans who have entered the United States have not been deported under the public health authority, known as Title 42. Instead, they have been screened and temporarily released into the country to face deportation proceedings in immigration court, where they can apply for asylum.
Venezuelans applying for the humanitarian parole program must have someone in the United States who can prove they are able to financially support the migrant for up to two years. During the application process, the government will assess the sponsor’s finances and review applicants, who will also need to have certain vaccinations and meet other public health requirements. Venezuelans on humanitarian parole will be temporarily allowed to legally work in the United States.
Additionally, any Venezuelan who enters Mexico or Panama illegally or who has permanent resident status, dual citizenship, or refugee status with another country is not eligible for the parole program. Venezuelans who have already been released to the United States to face removal proceedings are also not eligible for the program.
The administration said its plan for Venezuelans was based on what it described as the success of the Uniting for Ukraine program, which was instituted after Ukrainians – fleeing the Russian invasion – made their way to the border American from Mexico. The Biden administration has since taken in more than 100,000 Ukrainians, through the parole program and other resettlement measures. The Department of Homeland Security says there is no limit to the number of Ukrainians who can come to the country under the program.
While the Ukrainian agenda has received bipartisan support, Republicans have been less welcoming of Venezuelans, more than 150,000 of whom were apprehended at the southwestern U.S. border from October 2021 through late August.
“These actions make it clear that there is a legal and orderly way for Venezuelans to enter the United States, and legal entry is the only way,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said Wednesday. in a statement about the new program. .
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Announcing a new policy less than a month before the midterm elections is a calculated and political move by the White House, said John Thomas, a Republican strategist.
“It’s more of an effort to soften people’s anger over what’s happening on the southern border,” Thomas said. “It also gives the administration a talking point that they’re ‘doing something’.”
But it is unclear whether humanitarian parole and the expansion of Title 42 will significantly reduce the number of border crossings, as Venezuelans make up only a fraction of migrants crossing illegally.
Immigrant rights advocates have urged the White House to create a humanitarian parole program for migrants from particularly unstable countries, including Venezuela.
But they do not support a plan that ties humanitarian parole to the deportation of thousands more Venezuelan migrants to Mexico’s dangerous northern border region.
“It is great to expand access to humanitarian parole, but it cannot come at the cost of further harm to asylum seekers,” said Raha Wala, Deputy Director of Legislative Advocacy for the National Immigration Law Center. “Title 42 is a cruel Trump-era anti-immigrant policy that deserves to be consigned to history, not expanded.”
Fleeing poverty and political instability, more than 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2015, according to the United Nations. Most went to other South American countries.
But over the past year, more and more people have traveled to the United States. In August, Venezuelans made up about 12 percent of those crossing the southwestern border illegally. While the majority of migrants who do so are deported to their country or to Mexico under the public health order, the US government has been unable to repatriate Venezuelans due to minimal diplomatic relations between Washington and Caracas. And – until now – Mexico has been unwilling to welcome Venezuelans from the United States.
The humanitarian parole program announced Wednesday appears to be a much more limited version of previous proposals. One under consideration just last week included Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, according to officials briefed on the discussions. It was not immediately clear why these nationalities were ultimately left out.
Mr. Biden has overseen a record number of border crossings that are part of a global movement with more people displaced than ever before. Since taking office, the government has screened and released more than a million migrants who crossed the border illegally, granting them temporary permission to remain in the country until they are subject to a deportation proceeding in immigration court. The Biden administration has also deported migrants more than 2 million times under the authority of the public health rule.
The Biden administration tried to stop using the public health authority earlier this year, but a federal court blocked it. Now the administration has expanded the authority instead.
But for vulnerable Democrats in border states, like Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, the ability to campaign on a recent extension to Title 42 could come in handy in a tight race, said Carl Fogliani, a Republican political strategist. .
“They would like them to be out there saying what a wonderful development this is,” Fogliani said of the White House and Democrats dealing with border issues.