The US announces new measures to stop irregular migration in the hemisphere

Havana Cuba. – US Government officials announced this Wednesday a three-part strategy to address the phenomenon of regional irregular migration. This is based on a “historic increase in legal, safe and orderly routes for migration”; in joint efforts with Washington’s international partners and in a focus on law enforcement.

Speaking at the virtual press conference were Emily Mendrala, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor for Migration and Southwest Border Coordination; Eric Jacobstein, deputy assistant secretary of state for Central America in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; and Blas Núñez-Neto, Undersecretary of Border Policy and Immigration at the Department of Homeland Security.

Regarding legal pathways, Mendrala explained that “President Biden has guided the largest increase in decades of safe and orderly legal pathways for migration, including family reunification, an expansion of the refugee admissions program and many more.”

Regarding diplomacy, he highlighted that the US works with its international partners “under a common agenda” to confront the phenomenon of irregular migration in the hemisphere. In relation to the third aspect of the new strategy, he noted that the White House uses “all available tools to secure the border.”

“The United States repatriates individuals who cross the border and does not establish a legal basis to remain in the country. We also focus a lot on traffickers. Traffickers benefit from migrants. Their profits come at the expense of vulnerable people seeking safety. No one should benefit at the expense of vulnerable migrants. And today’s actions, visa sanctions, will bring consequences to the actors who facilitate or motivate irregular migration,” the official explained.

Finally, Mendrala indicated that the Government continues to urge Congress to approve bipartisan legislation with the necessary reforms and resources.

For his part, Jacobstein highlighted that the US is making a comprehensive effort to confront irregular migration and forced displacement in the Americas, as part of which it confronts human traffickers.

“Today, at the State Department we are implementing a new visa restriction policy, confronting owners, executives and senior officials of companies that provide transportation by land, sea or air to people who try to migrate irregularly to the United States. We will use the news of this visa restriction policy to encourage the cessation of irregular migration charter operations,” he detailed.

Núñez-Neto explained a series of actions that have been implemented since last May 12 ―when the public health emergency was lifted in the United States―, which have resulted in record repatriation numbers: more than 550,000 individuals who found themselves on the border with Mexico, including more than 90,000 family members.

“That includes our parole humanitarian for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which have already allowed more than 357,000 nationals of those countries to enter directly to the United States, with a safe and orderly process; and our CBP One mobile application on the border, which since last year has allowed more than 459,000 individuals access through our entry points, in a safe, orderly and legal manner,” he said.

Cuba and the US on immigration issues

The US and Cuban governments have adopted bilateral agreements on migration in 1984, 1994, 1995 and 2017, according to the State Department itself.

In April 2022, the parties resumed dialogue on immigration issues for the first time since 2018. The meeting was held in Washington DC and was headed, on the one hand, by the Deputy Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Emily Mendrala; and on the other, by the Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío.

In November of last year, the fourth round of talks of this type took place during Joe Biden’s administration.

As part of the agreements, in April of last year the US Government confirmed the resumption of migrant deportation flights to Cuba. The first operation of this nature since 2020 took place on the 24th of that month and involved 123 Cuban irregular migrants. According to the EFE news agency, Cuba closed 2023 with the arrival of 5,253 deportees from various countries.

In January of this year, the US Customs and Border Protection Office announced that in 2023, more than 153,000 irregular entries of Cubans into their country had been registered. Another 67,000 flew directly to US territory thanks to the parole humanitarian program implemented a year ago by the Biden administration. In total, 220,000 Cubans emigrated to the northern country in 2023 and 313,000 in 2022, so the exodus from the Island in just two years already totals more than half a million migrants (at least 533,000) and is the largest recorded since 1959.

According to the AFP agency, another 36,574 Cubans requested refuge in Mexico between 2022 and 2023, while at least 22,000 entered Uruguay and hundreds arrived in Chile.

The mass departure began in November 2021, when Nicaragua, an ally of the Havana regime, eliminated the visa requirement for Cuban citizens. The mass flight to that destination with the aim of continuing to cross borders into the United States fundamentally resulted in a necessary escape valve for the Cuban regime after the massive protests of July 11 and 12 of that year and the worst economic crisis in decades.

In January of this year, Cuba and the US held the fifth round of talks as part of the so-called “Law Enforcement Dialogue.” Among the possible topics discussed were illegal migration, repatriation of intercepted persons and human trafficking.

Spain is another of the destinations chosen by Cubans, especially after the entry into force of the Democratic Memory Law in October 2022, also known as the “Grandchildren Law”, which allows descendants of Spaniards to obtain nationality. Since then, the island’s nationals have successfully processed 22,479 applications, while Cuba has become the second country in the world with the most grants of Spanish nationality under that rule.

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