Biden’s Immigration Plan Lays Out a Tougher Border, New Legal Pathway for Some Migrants

Yesterday, President Joe Biden announced a new immigration framework to address record-high migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. The carrot-and-stick plan will increase expulsions for migrants who attempt to enter the U.S. illegally, and it also lays out a legal pathway for migrants from certain countries to live and work in the U.S. temporarily.

The framework will triple refugee resettlement from Latin America and the Caribbean in 2023 and 2024, for an annual cap of 20,000. Each month, up to 30,000 migrants combined from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba may come to live and work in the U.S. on a two-year status if they secure an American sponsor and pass background checks.

Meanwhile, the White House says “individuals who irregularly cross the Panama, Mexico, or U.S. border after the date of this announcement will be ineligible for the parole process and will be subject to expulsion to Mexico,” which will accept up to 30,000 migrants monthly from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba who have been expelled. Mexico will do so under an expansion of the pandemic-era Title 42 order, which allows for the immediate expulsion of border crossers. Previously, Mexico only accepted Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans removed under Title 42. (It recently began accepting expelled Venezuelans as well.) Unauthorized migrants “will be increasingly subject to expedited removal to their country of origin and subject to a five-year ban on reentry,” according to the White House.

Certain aspects of the framework will likely help reduce the number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, which has been a great challenge for the Biden administration so far. Under the new parole pathway, migrants can begin the process to secure legal passage to the U.S. from their home countries rather than doing so through an asylum claim (which can only be initiated at a port of entry or on U.S. soil). This could help save them a dangerous northward journey and reduce overcrowding at the border.

“I expect fewer illegal crossings if the administration implements the proposed plan as it outlined it yesterday,” David J. Bier, associate director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, tells Reason. “The new legal migration programs along with the expansion of Title 42 will lead to a meaningful reduction in unlawful crossings by incentivizing people to wait for the legal option to become available to them.”

The pathway for Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Haitians mirrors similar programs established for Ukrainians and Venezuelans