WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday announced he will expand a rapid-deportation policy for Venezuelans who illegally enter the US to Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians — despite many of those migrants fleeing socialist dictatorships.
Biden didn’t announce a similar ban for migrants from Mexico or other Central or South American countries who are seeking better economic opportunities or security as opposed to political persecution — following nearly 2.4 million border arrests in fiscal 2022.
The president framed the new policy, which will allow 30,000 people into the US per month from the four countries, as a move toward easing their journey, despite the policy resulting in tearful deportations of Venezuelans and scuffles at the US-Mexico border.
“Up to 30,000 individuals per month from these four countries, who have an eligible sponsor and pass vetting and background checks, can come to the United States for a period of two years and receive work authorization,” a White House fact sheet said.
Migrants seek sanctuary on the grounds of an overnight shelter at Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas. James Keivom for NY Post
“Individuals who irregularly cross the Panama, Mexico, or U.S. border after the date of this announcement will be ineligible for the parole process and will be subject to expulsion to Mexico, which will accept returns of 30,000 individuals per month from these four countries who fail to use these new pathways.”
The new tactic contrasts with the Biden administration’s prior attempts to explain the border crisis as an understandable and pitiable byproduct of people seeking political freedom.
“Let’s remember, these folks are fleeing communism,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a Sept. 20 briefing about the border crisis. “When you think about Venezuela — what’s going on in Venezuela, when you think about what’s going on in Nicaragua when you think about what’s going on in Cuba: They are fleeing political persecution only to be used as a political pawn by the Florida governor.”
The president’s new policy will allow 30,000 people into the US per month from the four countries. AP
It’s unclear why only Haiti — the hemisphere’s most populous majority-black country — is included in the countries whose citizens will get a swift boot. Haiti’s government has been in crisis for years, though it isn’t ruled by a socialist strongman like the other three.
The latest move comes one day after Biden confirmed plans to make his first visit as president to the US-Mexico border next week to observe the effects of record-breaking illegal immigration.
“What do you want to see when you go to the border?” a reporter asked Biden as he returned to the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
The new tactic contrasts with the Biden administration’s prior attempts to explain the border crisis. James Keivom
“Peace and Security. No, I’m going to see what is going on,” Biden replied, making a possible joke. “I’m going to be making a speech tomorrow on border security and you’ll hear more about it tomorrow.”
Biden is scheduled to travel to Mexico City on Monday and Tuesday for meetings with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.
The border visit is meant to help head off criticism of the president from Republicans and border-state leaders — but it could raise liabilities for Biden, who has sought to keep his distance from the humanitarian emergency that critics blame on his policies.
President Biden confirmed plans to make his first visit as president to the US-Mexico border next week. James Keivom for NY Post
The nearly 2.4 million illegal border-crossing arrests in the fiscal year 2022, which ended Sept. 30, followed 1.7 million arrests in fiscal 2021, fewer than 500,000 in 2020, and nearly 1 million in 2019. Those figures do not include migrants who evaded arrest.
The White House has provided reporters with just one example in which Biden “briefly drove past the border” after landing at El Paso’s airport in 2008 for an event in New Mexico. Biden’s motorcade took “a route that for a few minutes hugs the border of the United States and Mexico.”
The president flew to Arizona on Dec. 6 to give a 16-minute speech at a computer chips factory but said he could not visit the nearby US-Mexico border because he had “more important things” to do.
There have been nearly 2.4 million border arrests in 2022. James Keivom for NY Post
“I guess I should go down,” Biden said at a CNN town hall in October 2021. “But the whole point of it is I haven’t had a whole hell of a lot of time to get down.”
Biden halted construction of former President Donald Trump’s US-Mexico border wall — though officials have quietly moved to close some gaps — and ended Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that required migrants to await asylum decisions south of the border. He also called on Congress to establish a path to US citizenship for most illegal immigrants currently in the US.
Biden’s administration has gradually relaxed enforcement of the CDC’s Title 42 COVID-19 policy that allows US border officials to swiftly expel most people who illegally cross the border in the name of public health. The Supreme Court is reviewing a court battle over Title 42 and is expected to rule in the summer, but in the meantime, Biden officials have been allowing more migrants to stay after illegally entering.
Official data indicate that under Trump, about 80% of illegal immigrants were deported under Title 42, but that figure dropped to just 29% in November as the majority of migrants were allowed to wait for asylum verdicts while remaining in the US.
Biden orders rapid booting of Cuban, Nicaraguan, Haitian border-crossers
