• Migration
• USA

Washington, Aug 2 (EFE). –

The United States temporarily suspended new humanitarian permits for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, known as “parole,” which allow them to enter the country legally.

The Department of Homeland Security informed EFE on Friday of the decision to suspend the program, which allows up to 30,000 migrants from these four countries to enter the country legally each month.

The program requires US sponsors to agree to support migrants financially, which allows them to have a two-year temporary authorization to stay legally in the country and obtain a work permit.

The initiative began in late 2022 for Venezuelan nationals and was later expanded to include the other three nationalities; it has allowed nearly 520.000 migrants to enter the US, according to DHS data.

Friday’s halt was prompted by concerns raised by US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ fraud detection unit, which found that several would-be sponsors were applying to sponsor multiple migrants instead of migrants themselves, as is required.

Public reports suggested that some people were advertising sponsorships online.

A DHS spokeswoman did not confirm this information to EFE; however, she explained that the agency had decided “as a precautionary measure” to freeze the issuance of travel permits “while it conducts a review of sponsorship applications. “

The agency “will resume processing applications as quickly as possible, with appropriate safeguards,” she added.

In its statement, DHS said it refers cases of immigration fraud to the Justice Department. It also stressed that it has not “identified any problems” with the vetting of migrants who are eligible for sponsorship.

To apply for the permit, migrants must have a sponsor in the US who already has legal status and can demonstrate sufficient income to support the beneficiary.

The program, which has been the target of criticism and legal action by the Republican opposition, is part of the Joe Biden administration’s measures to curb migration at the southern border.

Over the past two years, this measure has contributed to reducing the number of people from these four countries apprehended at the border with Mexico.

The decline has been particularly noticeable in the decrease of detainees from Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua, according to CBP data.

In December 2022, a month before the program was expanded to include those nationalities, officials reported more than 30,000 apprehensions of migrants from those three countries.

That number plummeted to fewer than 900 apprehensions in February 2023 and has remained below 15,000 apprehensions a month.

Migrant crossings at the US-Mexicoreched record levels in 2022 and 2023, but drastically descended in 2024, hitting their lowest level in nearly four years in July.

Officials attributed the decrease to President Biden’s crackdown on asylum, scorching summer temperatures, and Mexico’s efforts to stop migrants. EFE

aaca/mcd