Page 2 - aruba-today-20221017

A2 UP FRONT
Monday 17 october 2022
Biden turning to Trump-era rule to expel Venezuelan migrants

Continued from Front lans expelled from the U.S. crease in border crossings.
The Biden policy marks an But officials inside and out-
The rule, first invoked by abrupt turn for the White side the White House were
Trump in 2020, uses emer- House, which just weeks conflicted over ending the
gency public health au- ago was lambasting Florida authority, believing it ef-
thority to allow the United Gov. Ron DeSantis and Tex- fectively kept down the
States to keep migrants as Gov. Greg Abbott, both number of people cross-
from seeking asylum at the Republicans, for putting ing the border illegally, ac-
border, based on the need Venezuelan migrants “flee- cording to senior adminis-
to help prevent the spread ing political persecution” tration officials.
of COVID-19. on buses and planes to A court order in May that
Under the new Biden ad- Democratic strongholds. kept Title 42 in place due
ministration policy, Ven- “These were children, they to a challenge from Re-
ezuelans who walk or swim were moms, they were publican state officials was
across America’s southern fleeing communism,” greeted with quiet relief by
border will be expelled President Joe Biden stands on stage before speaking about White House press secre- some in the administration,
and any Venezuelan who lowering costs for American families at the East Portland tary Karine Jean-Pierre said according to officials who
illegally enters Mexico or Community Center in Portland, Ore., Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. at the time. Biden’s new spoke to The Associated
Panama will be ineligible to Associated Press policy has drawn swift criti- Press on condition of ano-
come to the United States. Mexico has insisted that the to discuss the matter pub- cism from immigrant advo- nymity to discuss internal
But as many as 24,000 Ven- U.S. admit one Venezuelan licly and spoke condition cates, many of them quick discussions.
ezuelans will be accepted on humanitarian parole of anonymity. So if the Bi- to point out the Trump The recent increase in mi-
at U.S. airports, similar to for each Venezuelan it ex- den administration paroles parallels. “Rather than re- gration from Venezuela,
how Ukrainians have been pels to Mexico, accord- 24,000 Venezuelans to the store the right to asylum sparked by political, social
admitted since Russia’s in- ing to a Mexican official U.S., Mexico would take no decimated by the Trump and economic instability in
vasion in February. who was not authorized more than 24,000 Venezue- administration ... the Biden the country, dashed offi-
administration has dan- cials’ hopes that they were
gerously embraced the finally seeing a lull in the
failures of the past and ex- chaos that had defined
panded upon them by ex- the border region for the
plicitly enabling expulsions past year.
of Venezuelan migrants,” By August, Venezuelans
said Jennifer Nagda, policy were the second-largest
director of the Young Cent- nationality arriving at the
er for Immigrant Children’s U.S. border after Mexicans.
Rights. Given that U.S. tensions with
The administration says the Venezuela meant migrants
policy is aimed at ensuring from the country could not
a “lawful and orderly” way be sent back easily, the
for Venezuelans to enter situation became increas-
the U.S. ingly difficult to manage.
Why the turnaround? So an administration that
For more than a year af- had rejected many Trump-
ter taking office in January era policies aimed at keep-
2021, Biden deferred to the ing out migrants, that had
Centers for Disease Con- worked to make the asy-
trol and Prevention, which lum process easier and that
used its authority to keep had increased the number
in place the Trump-era of refugees allowed into
declaration that a public the U.S. now turned to Title
health risk existed that war- 42.
ranted expedited expul- It brokered a deal to send
sion of asylum-seekers. the Venezuelans to Mex-
Members of Biden’s own ico, which already had
party and activist groups agreed to accept migrants
had expressed skepticism expelled under Title 42 if
about the public health they are from Guatemala,
underpinnings for allowing Honduras or El Salvador.
Title 42 to remain in effect, All the while, Justice De-
especially when COVID-19 partment lawyers continue
was spreading more widely to appeal a court deci-
within the U.S. than else- sion that has kept Title 42
where. After months of in- in place. They are oppos-
ternal deliberations and ing Republican attorneys
preparations, the CDC on general from more than 20
April 1 said it would end the states who have argued
public health order and that Title 42 is “the only
return to normal border safety valve preventing this
processing of migrants, giv- Administration’s already
ing them a chance to re- disastrous border control
quest asylum in the U.S. policies from descend-
Homeland Security officials ing into an unmitigated
braced for a resulting in- catastrophe.”q