President Biden Announces Border Policy Changes, Visits U.S.-Mexico Border
The Biden Administration released new border enforcement policies, amid a record-breaking surge of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border. The policy change also opens a new legal pathway for some migrants to enter the U.S.
The White House says the measures will “increase security at the border and reduce the number of individuals crossing unlawfully between ports of entry.”
It immediately expands Title 42 restrictions to migrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua. The move will allow border agents to immediately expel migrants from those countries who are caught illegally crossing into the U.S from Mexico.
Until recently, migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela had been allowed to enter the U.S., given temporary work permits and granted asylum hearings.
In October, the Administration started applying Title 42 to Venezuelan migrants. The Administration says the move resulted in the number of unauthorized Venezuelans crossing the border dropping from 1,100 a day on average to around 100 a day.
“Do not — do not just show up at the border. Stay where you are and apply legally from there,” said President Biden at a White House speech announcing the policy changes.
The administration is offering an expanded pathway into the U.S. for migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba if they have an eligible sponsor and pass background checks. Up to 30,000 individuals per month from those countries will be allowed into the U.S. if they meet the criteria. Individuals who irregularly cross the Panama, Mexico, or U.S. border will be ineligible from the parole process.
In his speech, the President urged congress to do more to contain the migrant crisis.
“Until Congress passes the funds — a comprehensive immigration plan to fix the system completely — my administration is going to work to make things better at the border using the tools that we have available to us now,” President Biden said.
The announcement came just three days before President Biden made the first visit of his presidency to the U.S.-Mexico border, when he visited El Paso, Texas, on Sunday. El Paso, across from Juarez, Mexico, has become the epicenter of the border crisis. El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency over the situation last month.
The president was greeted at the airport by Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX), a critic of the administration’s border control policies. Governor Abbott handed the president a letter in their brief meeting saying, “Your visit to our southern border with Mexico today is $20 billion too little and two years too late.”
President Biden spent about four hours touring El Paso. He visited the Bridge of the Americas port of entry where he met with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, the El Paso County Migrant Services Center, and walked along a portion of the border fence.
U.S. Border Patrol made more than 2.4 million migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended last September, the most ever recorded.
“They need a lot of resources,” President Biden said while touring the border, “We’re going to get it for them.”