US: Biden administration announce new border enforcement measures

The Biden administration announced new measures at the country’s southern border with Mexico to tackle the surge of migrants that look to enter the United States. Among the measures include new parole processes for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua.

The Department of Homeland Security last Thursday announced the new border enforcement measures on Thursday. The new measures include new parole processes for Cuban, Haitian, and Nicaraguan migrants that are trying to enter the United States. The new steps aim to limit irregular migration and create organized processes for people trying to flee humanitarian crises to lawfully enter the US.

On the same day, President Joe Biden said that the administration would be extending the Trump-era restrictions that would immediately turn away Cuban, Haitian, and Nicaraguan migrants that are caught illegally crossing the border. Despite the restrictions, Biden also said that the US would allow up to 30,000 migrants from those three countries, including Venezuela, to enter the country by air every month.

The approach aims to address the frequent criticisms by Republicans toward Biden on border security. This would also address the concerns of Biden’s fellow Democrats and immigration activists who say the Title 42 immigration policy prevents migrants from exercising their right to apply for asylum in the United States.

“This new process is orderly, it’s safe and it’s humane,” said Biden in his first major speech regarding border security at the White House.

“Do not just show up at the border,” said Biden in his would-be message to the migrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua without a US sponsor. US government data showed border officials encountering 82,000 migrants at the southern border back in November coming from the three countries and Venezuela.

Biden noted that the new measures may not totally fix the country’s immigration system but will help “a good deal.”

The new measures were welcomed by National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons. However, Timmons said congressional reforms are still needed, as “779,000 open jobs and not enough Americans to fill these vacancies.”

The new measures were also criticized by Biden’s fellow Democrat, Senator Bob Menendez, who described the Trump-era restrictions as “disastrous” and an “inhumane relic” of Biden’s predecessor’s “racist immigration agenda.”