By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration is developing plans for Venezuelans with financial sponsors to be granted parole to enter the USA, just like how Ukrainians have been admitted after Russia’s invasion, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
4 officials offered broad outlines of the plan to cope with a big increase in Venezuelans arriving on the U.S. border with Mexico. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to debate the matter publicly.
Venezuelans who cross the border illegally on land can be immediately returned to Mexico, two officials said. Currently, Mexico only accepts migrants expelled under Title 42 authority — a pandemic-era rule that denies migrants rights to hunt asylum and is designed to stop the spread of COVID-19 — in the event that they are from Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras, along with Mexico.
Venezuelans who qualify for parole would enter the U.S. at airports, two officials said, mirroring a program introduced in April that enables Ukrainians with financial sponsors to remain for as much as two years.
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The officials strongly emphasized that discussions were fluid and plans could change. The plans were reported earlier Tuesday by CNN and The Latest York Times.
While major questions remain — corresponding to what number of can be eligible for parole and where Venezuelans would board planes — the discussions show concern about what has emerged as a significant challenge to authorities within the U.S., Mexico and Central America and a test of a hemispheric agreement reached in June in Los Angeles for countries that host migrants to confront issues together.
The Homeland Security Department didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment late Tuesday.
Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said it could release details when talks are final.
“We’re in discussions a couple of latest approach that features migration from Mexico and the northern Central American countries, in addition to Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, in an orderly manner and with access to employment options,” the ministry said in an announcement.
Venezuelans recently surpassed Guatemalans and Hondurans to turn out to be the second-largest nationality stopped on the U.S. border after Mexicans. In August, Venezuelans were stopped 25,349 times, up 43% from 17,652 in July and 4 times the 6,301 encounters in August 2021, signaling a remarkably sudden demographic shift.
An estimated 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled their country for the reason that economy tanked in 2014, mostly to Latin America and Caribbean countries. However the U.S. economy’s relative strength for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic has caused Venezuelan migrants to look north. Also, strained relations with the Venezuelan government make it extremely difficult to send them home under Title 42 authority, encouraging more to come back.
Mexico, under pressure from the Biden administration, introduced restrictions on air travel to limit Venezuelan migration to the USA in January, but many then shifted to a dangerous land route that goes through Panama’s notorious Darien Gap.
The plan being worked on would aim to discourage Venezuelans from the perilous journey by land and performance like parole for Ukrainians. The administration has pledged to confess as much as 100,000 people fleeing Russia’s invasion and has already allowed tens of hundreds, including nearly 17,000 in August.
“Uniting for Ukraine,” because the parole program is named, effectively ended a short-lived practice of individuals flying to Mexico as tourists and showing up at U.S. border crossings.
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Colleen Long in Washington and Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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