WASHINGTON – The United States government announced this Friday that it will accept asylum requests from nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who are already in Mexico, in an attempt to clear the border on the Mexican side.
The announcement is the result of an agreement with the Government of Mexico that comes days after a meeting in Mexico City between a US delegation and the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Casa’s national security adviser said in a statement. White, Jake Sullivan.
As part of this agreement, the Mexican Executive has promised to create a “multipurpose international space” in southern Mexico to offer new asylum and employment options to the most vulnerable people in the country, detailed the White House. .
The White House does not specify what this “multipurpose international space” will consist of and the Mexican government has not yet offered details in this regard.
At the beginning of the month, a source familiar with the conversations between Mexico and the US told EFE that the Joe Biden government had already proposed to López Obrador a new migration program that would benefit refugees from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and other nationalities who already They are in Mexican territory.
According to that source, the objective of the program -which ended up being announced this Friday- is to alleviate the migratory pressure that the Mexican government has faced for several years.
CHANGES TO THE ASYLUM APPLICATION
To apply for asylum in the United States, anyone must show that they face persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a specific social or ethnic group.
The Biden administration has implemented various measures to encourage legal migration and prevent thousands of people from crossing the border into Mexico on foot in search of asylum or better economic opportunities, which has put great pressure on the resources of some border communities.
Currently, the main way to apply for asylum in the US is through a mobile application called “CBP One”, which allows those in Mexico to make appointments with US authorities to present their asylum cases.
That app only offers 1,250 appointments a day, which means available slots fill up fast.
Another program that Biden has created allows nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to apply for an immigration permit to enter the United States, but only those who arrive by plane to US territory and have a sponsor who can prove that they will help them in their journey qualify. adaptation to the country.
That program, however, establishes that the delivery of immigration permits will be limited to 30,000 people per month, although, due to high demand, the number of applications processed has halved in some months, as explained on its website by the Service of Immigration and Citizenship (USCIS)
