Migrants in El Paso in 2019. Source: Mani Albrecht, Defense Visual Information Distribution Service
US President Joe Biden announced last week that ‘illegal immigrants’ from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela will be denied entry to the US and sent to Mexico. This is an expansion on Donald Trump’s COVID era immigration policy, Title 42, which allowed US border officials to immediately expel asylum seekers on ‘public health grounds.’
The new rules will also incorporate humanitarian parole (allowing non-citizens temporary admission into the US for urgent reasons) to 30,000 people per month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela. Those applying for humanitarian parole will have to apply online and find a financial sponsor.
According to Reuters, Biden arrived at the US-Mexico border in El Paso yesterday afternoon, where he spoke with border patrol officers and toured the dividing wall put in place by Trump during his presidency.
These stringent new laws have caused high levels of fear and displacement among migrants. In El Paso alone, hundreds have taken refuge on the street outside a church in fear of seeking more fixed shelter.
Dylan Corbett, founder of the non-profit Hope Border Institute, said that immigration enforcement agencies have already begun increasing deportations to Mexico, causing significant levels of fear, stress, and confusion.
Biden’s new laws expand on existing policies put in place back in October to stop Venezuelans from entering the US. Mr Corbett said that since these laws were put in place, many Venezuelans have been left with nowhere to go, and that expanding these laws will only displace more people and make matters worse.
Migrants who have not gone through correct processes will likely be stuck in El Paso, as they are unable to enter the US and, having travelled thousands of miles from their homes, will likely refuse to give up and turn around.
Mr Corbett said “It’s a very difficult situation because they can’t go forward and they can’t go back… There will be people in need of protection who will be left behind.”
