WASHINGTON – The United States announced today that it will resume direct repatriations of Venezuelan nationals who cross the border unlawfully after tens-of-thousands try to enter America last month.
This announcement follows a decision by authorities from Venezuela to accept the return of Venezuelan nationals, as well as high-level discussions yesterday in Mexico City between the United States, Mexico, Colombia, and Panama where Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, and Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall discussed ongoing coordinated efforts to address irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere.
This decision is consistent with the Administration’s efforts to implement a strategy of humane, safe, and orderly enforcement of our immigration laws and to process individuals in a fair and fast manner. These efforts include the Administration’s significant expansion of lawful pathways to enter the United States, including for Venezuelans, which have allowed hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to enter the country in a safe and orderly manner through our humanitarian parole process and after making an appointment through the CBP One mobile application. Today’s announcement makes clear that we are committed to strictly enforcing immigration laws and quickly removing individuals who do not avail themselves of these orderly processes and choose to cross our border unlawfully.
Irregular migration is a regional challenge that requires a regional response. Through the framework established under the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, other partners across the hemisphere are also pursuing new actions to address this challenge, including increased repatriations of Venezuelans and other migrants without valid protection claims. Our partners also continue to make progress in expanding legal pathways so that individuals are not compelled to make the dangerous journey north.
Under the Los Angeles Declaration, which President Biden and 20 leaders adopted last year, we are collectively charged to take coordinated actions to stabilize flows, expand lawful pathways and humanely manage their borders. Conducting repatriations is a key piece to this balanced approach.
The United States continues to urge migrants seeking to come to the United States to take advantage of the lawful pathways that we have made available and significantly expanded, instead of putting their lives in the hands of callous smugglers and crossing our border unlawfully only to be removed.
According to the United Nations, more than 6.1 million refugees and migrants have left Venezuela as a result of the political turmoil, socio-economic instability and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
In September, approximately 50,000 Venezuelans crossed the U.S. southern border without authorization, an all-time record that fueled a yearly high in migrant apprehensions that month, according to internal federal data obtained by CBS News. That represented roughly a quarter of all Border Patrol apprehensions in September, CBD reported.
(PHOTO at top: Venezuelan migrants and refugees via IOM/Gema Cortes)