UN refugee agency decries Biden administration plan to limit migrants from the Caribbean
GENEVA – The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the United States Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) on Friday expressed deep concern about plans by the Biden administration in the United States to limit migrants from the Caribbean.
Asylum seekers arrive along the United States’ southern border. (UNHCR/Nicolo Filippo Ross)On Thursday, the administration announced that it was limiting migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti who enter the country to 30,0000 each month under humanitarian parole, while expelling those who attempt to cross the southwestern border.
UNHCR decried Biden’s move “not in line with refugee law standards”.
UNHCR spokesperson Boris Cheshirkov told journalists in Geneva that while the UN agency welcomed the expanded safe and regular pathways for entry to the US for some, the new measures “must not preclude people forced to flee from exercising their fundamental human right to seek safety”.
Due to the “multi-faceted” nature of the US administration’s announcement, UNHCR is seeking additional details and analyzing the likely impact of the measures, said Cheshirkov, who said this would enable an “unprecedented number of people” from the four nationalities to enter.
In addition to considering the well-being of thousands already on the move from Latin America and the Caribbean, UNCHR raised concern over the expansion of the controversial COVID pandemic emergency “Title 42” health restrictions order to expel Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans without weighing the dangers they were fleeing or the risks and hardships many of them will face in Mexico.
UNHCR said it had made continuous calls for it to be lifted, noting that the issue has provoked a major court battle in the US, with the Supreme Court ruling at the end of December that the policy allowing migrants to be turned away at the border on health grounds, should remain for now.
“What we are reiterating is that this is not in line with refugee law standards and that to establish a link between safe and legal pathways which have been announced and of course we welcome the expansion of those on one side that are accessible for some people with curtailment for the right to seek asylum for many more who are ineligible for these pathways”, Cheshirkov said.
He said seeking asylum is “a fundamental human right,” adding that
UNHCR will continue to engage with the US and other governments “to expand safe pathways, and develop protection and solutions for asylum seekers – in line with international standards.”
In a purported effort to improve legal pathways for migration and alleviate the conditions at the southwestern United States border, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will now remove up to 30,000 migrants and asylum seekers from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to Mexico on a monthly basis, if they fail to comply with the new pathways put forth by the Biden administration.
In response to the announcement, the new CBC Chair Steven Horsford, whose mother hails from Trinidad and Tobago, noted that “America is a nation of immigrants,” adding that “access to asylum is, in many instances, a lifesaving right.”
“While the new parole program seeks to fast-track the processing of asylum cases, the reality is that the administration’s actions have the potential to threaten migrants’ safety and humanity,” said Horsford, who along with Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, were elected in early December to the top CBC positions.
Horsford, who represents Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, was elected chair, and Clarke, who represents New York’s 9th Congressional District, was elected first vice chair.
Following the Biden administration’s announcement, Horsford said members of the CBC, who collectively represent more than 18 million Black Americans, including significant immigrant populations, met with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for “an open and honest dialogue” in which they expressed members’ concerns, “particularly regarding Haitian migrants.”
“Members expressed their constituents’ lived experiences with migration and unease about the continuation of Title 42, while reiterating the urgency of providing fair and equitable access to asylum and other methods of migration,” Horsford said.
“The CBC and Secretary Mayorkas took a step in the right direction by working together to begin to develop a whole-of-government approach to addressing migration at our ports of entry,” he added, stating that the CBC looks forward to working with the Biden administration to “identify and provide humanitarian-focused solutions in the fortification of our nation’s immigration policies, as we recognize the urgency of this matter and remain committed to comprehensive immigration reform.”
On Thursday, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York State, strongly denounced plans by the Biden administration to limit migrants from the Caribbean.
NYIC said the plans will “cruelly favor” asylum seekers with family connections and financial privilege, demanding the expansion of additional protections for Caribbean and other asylum seekers.
In remarks at the White House, Biden said his government would deny migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti the opportunity to apply for asylum if they cross the Mexican border without permission between official ports of entry.
Biden said migrants from those countries, among tens of thousands of others who endeavor monthly to cross the border, would be expeditiously returned to Mexico instead.
“Today, I’m announcing that my administration is going to expand the parole program for people not only from Venezuela but from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti,” said Biden just a few days before traveling to Mexico City on Sunday for a two-day meeting with Mexican authorities.
“Again, these four countries — Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti — these four countries account for most of the people now traveling into Mexico to try to start a new life by crossing the border into the United States of America on the southwest border,” he added.
“We anticipate this action is going to substantially reduce the number of people attempting to cross our southwest border without going through a legal process,” continued Biden, announcing that Mexico has agreed to allow the return of up to 30,000 migrants per month “who try, get caught, and get sent back from those four countries who are apprehended while attempting to unlawfully cross the border — the southwest border.
“My message is this: If you’re trying to leave Cuba, Nicaragua, or Haiti, you have — and we — or have agreed to begin a journey to America, do not — do not just show up at the border. Stay where you are and apply legally from there,” he urged. “Starting today, if you don’t apply through the legal process, you will not be eligible for this new parole program.”
