WASHINGTON — The United States has banned the entry of executives from companies flights charter “for facilitating irregular migration” to its territory, within the framework of the sanctions policy implemented to stop flights with migrants to Nicaragua, reported this Monday Department of State.
The government of Democratic President Joe Biden has already restricted visas for companies that operate charter flights to Nicaragua with migrants in an irregular situation. In February he extended this policy to the rest of transportation: land and sea.
This Monday’s restrictions are the first since the February announcement, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller reported in a statement without detailing how many or the names of the airlines.
“These measures are taken in response to the growing trend of charter airlines offering flights to Nicaragua intended mainly for irregular migrants,” he states.
The objective is to end “the predatory practices of transport companies that profit from vulnerable migrants” because “no one should benefit” from these people, “whether they are smugglers, private companies, public officials or governments,” adds the spokesperson.
Elections
The influx of migrants is one of the issues that worries American voters and a headache for Democratic President Joe Biden, a candidate for re-election and accused by Republicans of not doing enough to stop it.
His predecessor and probable rival in the November presidential elections, Donald Trump, harshly attacks migrants during his rallies, accusing them of poisoning “the blood of the country.”
In January, US authorities intercepted migrants and asylum seekers more than 176,000 times on the border with Mexico.
Source: With information from AP
