U.S. will step up expulsions of Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans at the border, expand legal pathway

In a radical departure from current policy, the Biden administration will dramatically step up the expulsion of Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans back to Mexico if they cross the U.S. border illegally, while significantly expanding a parole program for the citizens of those three countries so they can live and work in the United States for two years if they have a sponsor.

The new measures, which include the increasing use of “expedited removals” — a quick deportation procedure — were touted as part of a new enforcement initiative by the Biden administration to curb illegal migration.

Announcing the program from the White House, President Joe Biden said the policy would “stiffen enforcement” on those attempting to cross illegally and encouraged Haitians, Cubans and Venezuelans not to take the perilous journey through Mexico.

“Over the past several years, thousands of people have been fleeing from Central and South America and the Caribbean countries ruled by oppressive dictators, including Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and escaping gang violence, which has the same impact in Haiti,” Biden said.

“Currently, these four countries account for most of the people traveling into Mexico to start a new life by getting to the American border, trying to cross,” he added. “But instead of safe and orderly processing at the border, we’ve got a patchwork system that simply doesn’t work as it should. We don’t have enough asylum officers or personnel to determine whether people qualify.”

The administration says the new lawful pathway is based on the success of a similar program already in place for Venezuelans, which has reduced the number of undocumented migrants from the South American nation by 90%. However, critics like the New York Immigration Coalition said the new plan “cruelly favor asylum seekers with family connections and financial privilege.” The advocacy group is demanding the expansion of additional protections for asylum seekers.

The increased use of expedited removals will limit the ability of Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans to claim asylum at the border. But one senior administration official said the new parole program marks a key change for Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans seeking a legal pathway to the United States.

“We view this as a sort of watershed moment, that the scale of this is unprecedented,” the official said.

“If you look at existing legal pathways that are available to these nationals from Venezuela, from Cuba, from Haiti, from Nicaragua, and what will now be available to them today — and just how innovative and accessible these pathways are,” the official continued. “People can access them on their phone.”

Individuals who enter illegally — and who are not expelled under Title 42, a public health order allowing the government to reject migrants due to pandemic concerns — will be sent back to Mexico or their home country and subjected to a five-year ban on reentry, officials said. Those who fail to seek protection in a country through which they traveled while on their way to the United States will also be ineligible for asylum in the U.S. unless they meet specified exceptions, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.

“Individuals who cannot establish a valid claim to protection with the standard set out in the new rule will be subject to prompt removal,” he warned.

He called on Congress to legislate and provide support for the increase in encounters at the border “and to fix the immigration system everyone agrees is terribly broken.”

“Absent congressional action, we will do what we can using the authority and resources available to us to manage the border in a safe, orderly and humane manner,” Mayorkas added.

The parole program for Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans is modeled after a similar program for Venezuelans that authorities credit with sharply decreasing the number of nationals from the South American country coming to the border since its launch in October.

Administration officials said that as many as 30,000 individuals per month from these four countries, who have an eligible sponsor in the United States to provide financial support and who pass rigorous security vetting and completed vaccinations and other public health requirements, will be able to come to the United States for two years and receive work authorization.

But those migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border after the date of the announcement will be ineligible for the parole process and will be sent back to Mexico. According to the officials, the Mexican government has agreed to take back up to 30,000 migrants from these four countries per month.

One Department of Homeland Security official said the new order would apply to nationals from the four listed countries attempting to enter the country illegally at any point, including across the Florida Straits.

A White House official also said those who cross the Florida Straits would also face new consequences. “Anyone from these four countries that enters the United States unlawfully, whether by land or sea, will be ineligible for the new parole programs and may be subject to a five-year bar to entry,” the official told McClatchy and the Miami Herald.

“We can provide humanitarian relief consistent with our values, cut out vicious smuggling organizations, and enforce our laws,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “Individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States will be subject to prompt expulsion or removal. Individuals who are provided a safe, orderly, and lawful path to the United States are less likely to risk their lives traversing thousands of miles in the hands of ruthless smugglers, only to arrive at our southern border and face the legal consequences of unlawful entry.”

The announcement comes as hundreds of Cubans have reached the shores of the Florida Keys since the weekend, overwhelming local authorities and raising fears of a mass migration event, and as Biden announced a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border next week.

Biden’s announcement follows the full resumption of immigration visa processing at the U.S. Embassy in Havana this week, after years in which Cubans had to travel to Guyana for immigration interviews. The administration also resumed last year a family reunification program for Cubans.

But the exodus of Cubans fleeing increased repression and an economic crisis has not shown signs of abating. According to official data, almost 225,000 Cubans arrived in the United States in 2022, an exodus larger than the 1980 Mariel boatlift, when 125,000 arrived in Florida. Just in November, U.S. Customs and Border Protection had 35,849 encounters with Cuban nationals nationwide, mainly at the border with Mexico, a figure higher than in any month in fiscal year 2022.

Since Oct. 1, more than 4,000 Cubans have been stopped at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard.

An increase in border encounters

The number of Nicaraguans and Haitians attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border has also increased.

During fiscal year 2022, which ended on Sept. 30, Customs and Border Protection registered nearly 164,000 encounters with Nicaraguans, up from about 50,000 the year before, according to federal data. Meanwhile, Haitians accounted for almost 54,000 encounters during the same period, up from about 47,000 in 2021 and roughly 4,500 in 2020.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus has acknowledged a sharp drop in the number of Venezuelans coming to the U.S. border since putting in place “additional joint actions with Mexico,” according to a statement from late October.

“It confirms what we’ve said all along: when there is a lawful and orderly way to enter the country, individuals will be less likely to put their lives in the hands of smugglers and try to cross the border unlawfully,” said Magnus.

The agency said last year that Customs and Border Protection encounters with Venezuelan migrants has gone down to 7,934 in November, compared to 33,804 just two months before. The agency added that Nicaraguans and Cubans fueled an increase in overall border crossings, making up about a third of all encounters at the southwest border during November. Meanwhile, Venezuelans “continue to arrive at far lower numbers as a result of the migration enforcement process that includes expulsions to Mexico and lawful pathways.”

Confusion at the border

Thursday’s announcement might bring uniformity and more clarity on how immigrants from the affected countries are processed at the U.S. borders.

For example, some Cuban and Haitian migrants have been receiving immigration parole, which is granted under a humanitarian basis and courts consider it an admission to the country. But some have been given parole for only a few days, which complicates the migrants’ ability to acquire a legal status. Many Cubans have been released at the border and put under an ICE surveillance program. That status and the entry document that goes with it, Form I220A, have been rejected by some immigration judges as a legal admission, leaving many in limbo and unable to get permanent residence under the Cuban Adjustment Act, a 1966 law that provides a quick route for obtaining a green card.

Recently, some Cubans arriving both at the border with Mexico and in the Florida Keys have been put under a different immigration category: expedited removal. Haitians landing in Florida have been receiving the same treatment. But activists and lawyers question the legality of this mechanism, which allows border authorities to expeditiously deport an immigrant without offering them the opportunity to pass an interview to claim asylum, as stipulated by federal immigration laws.

The Department of Homeland Security has not clarified why immigrants have faced different. treatment, providing little details on policies that so far seem to depend on the migrants’ nationality, the route they are taking, whether they can be easily sent back to their countries of origin or Mexico, and sometimes even on the official who first processed them.

After hinting that deportation flights to Cuba would resume, DHS and the State Department have refused to provide any details. But putting Cuban migrants under expedited removal might be key for quickly resuming the flights. The 2017 migration deal signed by the Barack Obama administration, under which Cuba agreed to accept deported nationals, eliminated an exemption that previously prevented the use of expedited removal proceedings for Cuban nationals apprehended at ports of entry or near the border.

“Effective immediately, Cuban nationals who are apprehended at ports of entry or near the border may be placed into expedited removal proceedings in the same manner as nationals of other countries,” DHS said at the time.

In the case of Haitians, the largest migration from the Caribbean country in nearly two decades occurred last year, with more than 7,000 Haitians stopped at sea.

Advocates and immigration attorneys point out that the migration crisis in Haiti reflects not just the difficult conditions in their country, but the “failure of U.S. foreign policy.”

Like with Cuba, the United States announced the resumption of a Haitian family reunification program, but so far, advocates say they have no indication the program has started. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says on its webpage that it is determining when to send the next round of invitations for the program.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti is facing huge backlogs for visa requests and has also had a high refusal rate amid the recent crisis. The embassy, which is located between two gang-controlled territories, has been stymied by gang violence, kidnappings and a cholera epidemic.

“The problem remains the administration’s failed foreign policy towards Haiti, which by propping up the corrupt regime and blocking democracy is responsible for Haiti’s unprecedentedly hellish conditions,” said Steve Forester, a South Florida immigration advocate. “Until that policy finally changes, many Haitians will unfortunately likely continue to risk their lives in desperate attempts to save them.”