The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it will soon resume deporting unlawful migrants from Venezuela back to their home country.
At a joint press conference in Mexico City, officials from both the United States and Mexico announced the decision following a meeting about the topic.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claimed in a press release that the deportations are a part of the “strict consequences” reserved for individuals who “do not use … lawful means to enter [the United States].”
For his part, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the measure would be an important part of how the federal government would manage unlawful migration moving forward.
“Under the Los Angeles Declaration, the declaration agreed to by virtually all of the countries in our hemisphere at the last Summit of the Americas, we’re charged with taking coordinated actions to try to stabilize flows, to expand regular pathways, to humanely manage all of our borders,” Blinken said, per the press release.
“Repatriations are a key piece to this balanced approach and that’s what we followed through with today,” Blinken added.
Mayorkas said the new policy would not change the “Temporary Protected Status” provided to Venezuelan nationals who arrived in the United States before July 31.
However, he said the department determined that “it is safe to return Venezuelan nationals who’ve arrived in the United States subsequent to July 31st and do not have a legal basis to remain here.”
Blinken reiterated his statements, saying that the United States has “an ironclad commitment to provide protection for those who qualify [for asylum],” noting both the United States and Mexico are facing “an unprecedented level of migration.”
“The United States is committed to continuing to work closely with Mexico as we implement the model that pairs the historic expansion of safe, orderly, and lawful pathways for migrants to come directly to the United States or elsewhere to obtain humanitarian relief outside the grip of the smugglers with strict consequences for those who do not use those lawful means to enter our country,” he said, per the press release.
Mexico Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena also voiced support for the plan on Thursday.
“We are going to continue taking forceful actions, including continuing some efforts we already have in relation to assisted returns, coordinating the dismantling of trafficking networks and human trafficking,” Bárcena said, according to the Associated Press.
Still, some are concerned the new policy is only a temporary fix and will not be beneficial in the long term, especially when it comes to the record levels of unlawful migration into the United States.
“Restarting deportations to Venezuela will send a deterrence message. I would also expect it to trigger a short-term drop in Venezuelan apprehensions. The question is what happens in five or six months,” said John Sandweg, the former acting enforcement director of U.S. Immigration and Customs, CNN reported.
“Unless the administration can deport a high percentage of the Venezuelans apprehended [at] the border, I would expect the long-term impact to be negligible,” Sandweg claimed.
It is still unclear when deportation flights will officially begin, but two U.S. officials told the Associated Press the flights are expected to begin soon.
The policy change follows a major influx of unlawful Venezuelan migrants into the United States, with more than 150,000 reported encounters with Venezuelan nationals at the border between October 2021 and August 2022, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.