Newsman: The Biden administration announced a major shift to its immigration strategy Thursday, expanding the use of a Trump-era policy that gives border agents the power to quickly turn back migrants at the border. The Biden administration is also creating new path ways for people from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti to apply for legal entry into the U.S.
“Do not just show up at the border. Stay where you are and apply legally from there,” Biden said in a speech announcing the new approach addressing potential migrants from those nations. President Joe Biden intends to visit the U.S.-Mexico border Sunday during his trip to Mexico City next week.
“Starting today, if you don’t apply through the legal process you will not be eligible for this new parole program.”
Biden hopes his administration’s new plan will “substantially reduce” the number of people attempting to cross the border, he said.
Speaking in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in a rare White House address, President Joe Biden said the policy will grant humanitarian “parole” to eligible migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. It will work as part of a border strategy that incorporates an expanded use of Title 42 expulsions.
To turn away people at the border, the Biden administration will rely on Title 42, a decades-old emergency health rule that allows border officials to immediately expel migrants without considering their asylum claims.
The announcement was made as the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice released details of a plan to impose a new regulation — a version of a Trump-era policy often called the “transit ban.” Under the new rule, migrants would be prohibited from applying for asylum in the United States unless they were first turned away for safe harbor by another country. It would also deem ineligible migrants who don’t go through authorized ports of entry. DHS and DOJ will hear public comment on the proposed regulation before it goes into effect.
But the new policy allows up to 30,000 individuals per month from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti to apply to live and legally work in the U.S. through a humanitarian parole plan the administration had previously offered only to Venezuelans. Migrants can apply from anywhere, but must not cross the borders or Mexico, Panama or the U.S. without authorization. They will be required to have U.S.-based financial sponsors and pass rigorous background checks.
Migrants from the four countries will only be admitted to the U.S. if they apply through the new process, Biden warned. Those who attempt to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border will be turned back and ineligible for the parole program, Biden added.
The only way to truly fix the border, Biden said, is for Congress to overhaul immigration law. A last-ditch effort on a bipartisan immigration deal in the Senate fell apart before Republicans took control of the House of Representatives this month.
The new rules for Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans will remain in place even if Title 42 is lifted, Biden said Thursday. Migrants from the four countries would continue to be turned back to Mexico under Title 8, the federal immigration law that allows for expedited removal of migrants who are ineligible for asylum or are unable to prove a legal basis to remain in the U.S., he said.
The Biden administration also said it would soon be issuing a proposal that would force those crossing without authorization to prove they are not ineligible for asylum if they did not seek asylum or another legal pathway to the U.S. before arriving at the border.
A record number of migrants have descended on the southwest border this year, stretching border cities’ resources and placing political pressure on the administration. Border agents made more than 2 million arrests at the border during the yearlong period that ended Sept. 30, according to Customs and Border Protection data. The Republicans have argued that those numbers prove that Biden is weak on border security.
Biden has faced legal challenges to end Title 42 from Republican-led states who argue ending the policy would result in a surge of new migrants. The Supreme Court has ordered the administration to keep the policy in place until the justices’ rule on the GOP states’ lawsuit.
Though the administration has tried to end Title 42, in recent months, it began expanding the use of the policy by turning back Venezuelans to Mexico. Now Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians will be turned away under Title 42 as well, narrowing the ability of thousands of migrants to seek asylum. Mexico has agreed to allow U.S. officials to return up to 30,000 migrants per month.
The administration also plans to triple, to 20,000, the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the U.S. each year from Latin American and Caribbean countries. The refugee program is separate from those who seek asylum in the U.S.
The administration is also launching an online appointment portal to reduce overcrowding and wait times at the U.S. ports of entry for migrants who enter lawfully.
