Crisis in Venezuela and Central America: US Refugee Intake Options in 2023
As the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela continues to bring millions of refugees into Central and North America, the US has taken the opportunity to announce new refugee intake initiatives. In general, the announcement reflects the US’s intention to overhaul, staff and expand its immigration intake effort with respect to legally processed refugees from Central America. The changes however may also lead to unforeseen consequences to existing migration processes for Central American migrants.
Below, we summarise the main processes currently available to Central American refugees for entry to the US and then discuss the Biden-Harris Administration’s 5 January 2023 press release, including some drastic changes to the nature of migration processing the announcement may be seeking to introduce and which Central American refugee applicants should seriously consider before applying.
1. Humanitarian or Significant Public Benefit Parole for Individuals Outside the US
People outside the United States seeking relocation for urgent humanitarian or public benefit reasons have the option to apply for entry to the US on the basis of discretionary decision making by the secretary of homeland security. The process allows you to enter the US via a personal plea to the secretary, in lieu of passing through other standard procedures . The US usually grants parole for 1 year, although the duration will vary depending on the purpose of the relocation provided.
This category of entry is both the most open and discretionary. The is no legal definition of “urgent humanitarian reasons” to which the decision-maker will have reference apart from more general considerations about the urgency of the applicant’s circumstances and the degree of suffering that might arise if entry is denied.
While processing for this category of entry is particularly expedited, applicants should keep in mind that the likelihood of parole validation will be low unless the applicant’s situation is very clearly and immediately dangerous or pressing.
2. Processes for Cubans, Haitian, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans
If you are a national of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela experiencing threats to personal safety or humane living standards, and you have contact with someone willing to provide you with financial support in the US, you can also apply for entry online. Form I-134A allows a US supporter of Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan or Venezuelan nationals to file an application for each beneficiary.
Although this process involves more complete and lengthy security checks in addition to other eligibility requirements, the standard for entry will generally be lower than for more expedited forms of parole. The supporter will need to demonstrate clearly however that they are capable of financially supporting the beneficiary.
The US also offers entry to refugees globally, that is, people outside of the US who demonstrate “that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group”.
Refugees are accepted into the US as part of the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), which requires applicants to receive first a referral to the Program whilst they are outside of the US. Applicants are then interviewed by a USCIS officer who decides the applicant’s eligibility for relocation in the US.
The determination of applications will depend on the USRAP’s prioritization of categories of people, which applicants can expect might change from year to year. At the moment, the USRAP’s focus is on cases referred by the UNHCR, designated NGOs or US Embassies, as well as family reunification and other groups considered of special humanitarian concern by the US refuges program.
You can view a flowchart of the process here.
With respect to individuals already paroled or admitted to the US, they can apply to adjust their status to permanent resident via an application for asylum while in the US.
Changes Introduced by the Biden-Harris Administration
Although the US intends to expand its intake of entrants from Central America, it has also announced its intention to expand its executive control over the processing of Central American refugees and immigrants. The intensification of its influence on policy and on the ground on the whole reflects an intention to introduce and expel entrants on a more unpredictable and ad hoc basis, with few to no avenues for appeal. Central American nationals applying for entry should therefore prepare for the possibility of some instability with regard to their parole, refugee or migrant status whilst in the US, in addition to some changes to requirements for entry processing in the coming years.
New Processes and Penalties
The press release announces more widely applicable and diverse penalties which will act both as a deterrent to those intending to enter illegally and which the White House also claims will incentivize research into and the choice of legal migration pathways.
In particular and controversially, the press release announces the US’s intention to prolong and expand the power afforded under Title 42 to immediately remove illegal entrants to the United States and instate a five-year ban on their reentry. In this way, the US makes plain the intended unrestricted immigration powers afforded by Title 42, which was initially introduced by the Trump administration under what many noticed was only the guise of protection from the spread of Covid-19 by refugees.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s decision to announce openly its intention continue to rely on the powers conferred by Title 42 should be read as a clear indication that it intends to introduce and remove migrants more frequently on discretionary (and therefore less predictable) grounds. All entrants to the US should be wary of this wide and far-reaching power of the state that decreases the chances of stable and safe living conditions whilst there.
The US has not specified what kinds of additional measures it hopes to implement to incentivize a more proactive interest in “orderly and lawful pathways to migration”. At the very least, it has mentioned the introduction of new “regulations” which will undoubtedly increase the number of both processes and penalties relevant to immigration applications from Venezuelan and Central American applicants.
Changing Migration Pathways
The Department of Homeland Security intends to extend the availability of parole processing of refugees from Venezuela, and expand the reach of the pathway to nationals of Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba. Under this initiative, a maximum of 30,000 new refugees per month may reside in the US for 2 years with authorization to work. The US is also set to increase its intake of refugee migrants from the Latin American and Caribbean countries to 20,000 in 2023-2024, more than triple in the 2022-2023 financial year.
The US also emphasises its cooperation with other Western Hemisphere countries as a part of the Los Angeles Declaration to provide more diverse migration options, e.g. to Canada, Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Belize. It remains to be seen however exactly how this cooperation on migration numbers will operate in effect, e.g. whether it will in fact provide more options for refugee migration or be used to direct the flow of migration into some particular regions as opposed to others.
Enforcement of Executive and Uncontestable Decision-Making
As a part of its plan to increase the rate of refugee migration, the US will also bolster on the ground technical and personnel support to increase the efficiency of its refugee processing. This includes both the addition of asylum officers and immigration judges for faster processing, as well as federal security and transportation to facilitate the rapid and mass removal of people at the Southwestern border of the US itself. The White House has also mentioned the addition of communication and technology infrastructure such as additional phone and privacy booths as well as an online appointment booking platform. Federal intervention extends even to the funding of local communities, not-for-profits and religious organizations to assist with humanitarian support to immigrants.
Although the intensification of the Federal US government’s influence on the US Southwestern border suggests it does seriously intend to facilitate a drastic increase in refugees, the direct intervention of federal influences (both through force and law) also suggests the potential for more instances of uncontestable executive decision-making in the area.
If you would like to know more about options for entering or migrating to the US, don’t hesitate to contact Borderless Counsel at info@borderlesscounsel.com