President Joe Biden's administration announced Thursday that it will immediately begin turning back Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, a major expansion of the current mechanism that already bars Venezuelans attempting to enter U.S. soil.
Instead, the government announced that it will accept 30,000 people from the four nations per month for two years and offer them the possibility of working legally, provided they come from legal backgrounds, have eligible sponsors and pass background checks.
Citizens of these four nations are among those with the largest increases in migrant border crossings, with no easy way to quickly return migrants to their home countries.
This was announced by President Joe Biden at a press conference this afternoon and sent a message to migrants from these countries:
My message is this, if you are trying to leave Cuba, Nicaragua or Haiti and you have decided to undertake the journey to the United States, simply do not show up at the border, stay where you are and apply legally from the place where you are. As of today, if you do not apply through the legal process you will not be eligible for this new program. I will reiterate, you need a legal sponsor in the United States and you have to pass a rigorous background check. If your application is approved you will have access, but if your application is denied and you try to enter the country illegally you will not be allowed entry.
Biden assured that since they implemented a similar program for Venezuelans, the number of migrants from that country who have managed to enter the United States has dropped dramatically, from more than a thousand a day to only 250.
This is a mammoth change in immigration rules, and will stand even if the U.S. Supreme Court puts an end to a public health law from Donald Trump's presidency that has allowed U.S. authorities to turn away asylum seekers.