US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken raised concerns about an escalating number of crossings by migrants from the three countries during a visit to Mexico City on Monday, two US and two Mexican officials told Reuters, but Mexico promised no specific action. A US official said trying to get Mexico to agree was “an uphill battle”. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up All the sources requested anonymity to discuss internal government matters. Mexico is already taking back U.S. migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. So far this fiscal year, about 299,000 people from those nations have been deported at the border, compared with about 9,000 returnees from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The US effort to pressure Mexico on these three specific nationalities shows the depth of concern in the Democratic Biden administration about its border crossings. Most immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela who cross into the United States are allowed to stay to seek asylum, as they are difficult to deport due to frosty diplomatic relations with their governments. Mexico’s foreign ministry declined to comment. A White House National Security Council spokesman declined to discuss “diplomatic talks” but said nations in the region “have already begun to take collective responsibility for managing migration flows, including through repatriations.” US border agents have made a record 1.8 million immigration arrests so far in fiscal year 2022, with many trying to cross multiple times, creating humanitarian challenges and political liability for Biden ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections. Of those apprehensions at the Southwest border, nearly a quarter of the immigrants were from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, up from 8% in 2021 and 3% in 2020. Most were released to the United States to pursue immigration cases. The Biden administration has publicly sought to end the COVID health order, known as Title 42. Enacted in early 2020 under former Republican President Donald Trump, it allows U.S. border authorities to quickly deport immigrants to Mexico or other countries without the opportunity to seek asylum in the US. A Trump-appointed federal judge in Louisiana blocked the administration from ending the order earlier this year, even though US health officials said it was no longer necessary to protect against the spread of COVID. read more But behind closed doors, some Biden officials still see expanding deportations as a way to deter illegal immigrants, one of the U.S. officials said, even if it runs counter to the Democratic Party’s more welcoming message to immigrants. Supporters and many Democrats strongly oppose Title 42, saying it has exposed immigrants to dangerous conditions in Mexico, including kidnapping and extortion. “I think this really betrays their commitment to protecting refugees,” said Robyn Barnard, deputy director of refugee advocacy at the New York-based nonprofit Human Rights First.
MEXICO HESITATING
Two Mexican officials told Reuters that Mexico does not want to accept Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans expelled from the United States because those countries resist receiving deportation flights from Mexico as well. Instead, Mexico aims to step up internal flights of migrants from its northern border to its southern border to ease pressure on the shared border, one of the officials said. Mexico would like Washington to ease economic sanctions against Venezuela to help curb flight from the country and make it easier for migrants to work legally in the United States, two Mexican officials said. Meanwhile, US border officials in El Paso, Texas, say they have been forced to release hundreds of migrants onto city streets near shelters and bus stations to ease overcrowding at their facilities. Many of the arriving Venezuelans do not have family members or sponsors, further straining the charities and government agencies helping them, said Mario D’Agostino, El Paso’s deputy city manager. Reuters Graphics The Democratic-controlled city has contracted to charter buses to transport migrants north to New York, an effort that comes after the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona drew national attention by ferrying thousands of migrants to Democratic-led northern cities. . read more
PRESSURE FROM OTHER NATIONS
Biden officials are also exploring ways to push the blame to other nations beyond Mexico, sources said. For example, the White House wants Panama to accept deported Venezuelans if they pass through the Central American nation en route to the United States, two of the US officials said. Nearly 70,000 Venezuelans entered Panama from its border with Colombia this year through August, compared with 1,150 in the same period last year, according to official figures. Panamanian government officials did not respond to a request for comment. Separately, the Biden administration had sent a small number of Venezuelans to the Dominican Republic on commercial flights, two of the US officials said, a continuation of a Trump-era practice. But the program was halted after pushback earlier this year from the office of Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, according to one of the US officials and a person familiar with the matter. In February, Menendez called the deportation of migrants fleeing Venezuela’s “brutal regime” to third countries “extremely troubling.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Ted Hesson, Matt Spetalnick and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington and Dave Graham and Daina Solomon in Mexico City. Additional reporting by Jose Luis Gonzalez in Ciudad Juarez and Elida Moreno in Panama City. Edited by Mica Rosenberg and Aurora Ellis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
