The United States will increase deportations while increasing regular pathways for immigrants in anticipation of a possible increase in illegal border crossings when Title 42-related restrictions end on May 11.
The United States will double or triple the number of deportation flights to some countries and will try to return irregular border crossers “within days,” the Department of State and Homeland Security (DHS) announced.
At the same time, legal avenues for migrants will be expanded, and Mayorcas are encouraged to apply for refugee resettlement or other forms of entry into the United States at two new processing centers, in Guatemala and Colombia, without having to travel to the United States-Mexico border.
The centers have the support of the United Nations Organization and their goal is to review between 5,000 and 6,000 migrant applications per month. The United States has pledged to accept more refugees from the Western Hemisphere. Canada and Spain would also accept migrants through those centers, US officials said.
Regional care offices will process expanded family reunification applications for Colombians, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans in an effort to create new authorized pathways for immigrants, officials said.
The program will allow people with relatives in the United States to enter and work legally while they wait for their visas.
Earlier this year, after the United States began rapidly expelling Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans back to Mexico, the number of migrants through that route dropped dramatically.
Under the post-Title 42 plans, the United States intends to continue sending those migrants to Mexico, a US official said.
In January, Biden launched a program that allows 30,000 migrants a month to enter the country by air from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela with US sponsors. The places will remain open and appointments can be requested to approach the border through an online application.
Part of the plan is to increase the number of appointments available through the app, known as CBP One, the Biden administration explained. Migrants have said that the availability of appointments is gone in a matter of minutes each day.
To discourage Cubans from trying to enter the United States through dangerous boat trips, DHS said any Cuban caught trying to travel by sea will no longer be eligible for the humanitarian program launched in January.
The Biden administration does not plan to detain migrant families, Mayorkas said, echoing comments from a senior official earlier this month, but could monitor them with GPS tracking devices or a program similar to house arrest.
“Our border is not open and it will not be after May 11,” the official said during a press conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington DC.
