WASHINGTON – The Biden administration said Thursday it will begin sending Venezuelan immigrants who cross the US border illegally back to their troubled homelands – despite earlier threats failing to stem a surge in illegal crossings because warnings were not enforced.
“Consistent with our commitment to enforce our immigration laws, and to continue to strengthen the consequences for those who cross our border illegally, the United States today announced that it will continue the direct deportation of Venezuelans who cross our border illegally and does not create a legal basis to remain,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a press release.
Threatened evictions will be costly if actually carried out. About 200,000 Venezuelans crossed the southwestern border illegally in the latest 11 months of Customs and Border Protection data, making up about 9% of all such transits.
The DHS announcement did not say whether US government planes would be used, but one-way commercial flights, which are sometimes used for such repatriations, are prohibitively expensive due to low demand caused by security and economic concerns in Venezuela. The cost of flying from the border state to Caracas can run into the thousands of dollars.
Large-scale deportations to Venezuela are likely to spark humanitarian protests, as the country’s authoritarian socialist government has presided over a fierce internal crackdown on dissidents as years of hyperinflation and one of the highest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere have sent its people fleeing.
The Biden administration said Thursday it would begin sending Venezuelan immigrants who illegally crossed the US border back to their troubled homeland.Getty Images
Homeland Security said the announcement “follows a decision by Venezuelan authorities to accept the return of Venezuelan nationals.”
The department also praised “yesterday’s high-level discussions in Mexico City between the United States, Mexico, Colombia, and Panama where Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, and Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall discussed continuing to coordinate efforts to address irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere.”
The threat was announced a day after the Biden administration waived 26 federal laws to speed up the construction of about 20 miles of a new border wall in South Texas after former President Donald Trump’s signature project was halted on President Biden’s first day in office.
An ABC News poll last month found Biden had only 23% approval from the public on his handling of immigration and the border, making him a major liability ahead of next year’s election. His main critics include Democrats such as New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“At this time there is an acute and urgent need to build physical barriers and roads around the border of the United States to prevent illegal entry,” Mayorkas said on Wednesday, although Biden contradicted him on Thursday and said that the wall was not effective and that he had to restart the project because Congress had approved funding for it in 2019.
Nearly half a million Venezuelans have crossed the southwestern border illegally since Biden took office — with the spike peaking at more than 34,000 arrests in April and more than 31,000 stops recorded in August, the most recent month for which data is available.
Homeland Security said the announcement “follows a decision by Venezuelan authorities to accept the return of Venezuelan nationals.” Getty Images
Biden previously threatened to deport Venezuelans who did not enter the US legally – before his administration allowed many who remained in the country to press their asylum claims.
Last month, Biden extended temporary protection status to about 472,000 Venezuelan immigrants arriving in the US by July 31 this year, which gives the cohort protection from deportation and the right to live and work legally in America because of the dysfunction of their country of origin.
The delay comes despite the Biden administration previously threatening to turn away any Venezuelan who does not enter the country through legal process.
Last month, Biden extended temporary protection status to about 472,000 Venezuelan immigrants who arrived in the US by July 31 this year.REUTERS
In October 2022, the Biden administration launched a special “parole” program that allows Venezuelans to enter the US through legal gateways such as airports to await review of their asylum claims – with a limit of 24,000 recipients. Those who did not go through the process were warned that they would be deported, and some were indeed turned away at the border.
The parole program was expanded in January to include citizens of Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua — with a combined up to 30,000 migrants a month from those four nationalities allowed to enter the US to await an asylum decision if they pass a background check and have a US sponsor.
At the time, Biden claimed that residents of any of the four countries would be immediately returned to Mexico if they crossed illegally – only for the threat not to be enforced, with more recent arrivals forming a large contingent of those released at the border, eventually making the trip. to cities like New York, which have struggled to accommodate them.
“Starting today, if you don’t apply through the legal process, you will not be eligible for this new parole program,” Biden said in January, adding, “If you try to cross into the United States illegally, you will not be allowed come in.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
