Biden admin to set up migrant processing centers in Latin America ahead of end of Title 42

The Biden administration on Thursday announced plans to establish immigration processing centers throughout Latin America to help slow down the number of migrants coming to the U.S. The regional processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia should be up and running in the coming weeks, said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a joint press conference. Additional details will be announced in the coming weeks about how many centers they will set up as they negotiate with additional countries. A memo obtained by POLITICO suggested that other hubs could be in Ecuador and eventually Costa Rica. U.S. international partners, including the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration, will screen migrants at these centers and determine if they qualify for entry before the migrants can try to move on to the U.S. southern border. If eligible, migrants will be referred for refugee resettlement or other lawful pathways such as parole programs, family reunification or existing labor pathways. Migrants will also receive local information about host countries and available social services. The announcement comes just two weeks before a seismic shake-up in border policy, the lifting of Title 42. The Trump-era border policy has been used more than 2 million times to expel asylum-seeking migrants on public health grounds. The U.S. expects to initially screen at least 5,000 or 6,000 migrants a month at the new processing centers, Mayorkas said. “The whole model is to reach the people where they are — to cut the smugglers out and to have them avoid the perilous journey that too many do not make. But we are beginning in Guatemala and Colombia. We are beginning at the level that I described, and we will scale up,” he said. Canada and Spain have agreed to accept referrals from the processing centers, officials said. The processing centers are just one piece of the administration’s multi-pronged response as the White House tries to strike a balance of deterrence with creating additional legal pathways. Officials also announced the expansion of the family reunification parole program to include Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Colombia, a program previously only available to Cubans and Haitians. They are also increasing the number of applications available on the CBP One app for migrants in Central and Northern Mexico. “[It’s] a significant plan that is really at a level of ambition and scale that has never been done before,” a senior administration official told reporters on a call ahead of the announcement. “However, there is far more that we could do if we had the cooperation of Congress. They have really tied our hands, and so we really do appeal to Congress to work with us.” The White House has been intensely planning for the end of Title 42 since before the New Year, weighing a patchwork of policy solutions. May, already the historically busiest month for migration, is expected to bring one of the greatest policy challenges yet for the White House. And the timing falls at a challenging political moment for President Joe Biden, who just launched his 2024 reelection campaign. The efforts to expand legal pathways and expedite processing will be paired with deterrence measures — in an effort to build upon the humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, which officials tout as a success story in bringing border numbers down. The program for these groups will continue, officials said, including the expulsion to Mexico of those who try to enter the U.S. unlawfully. “They’re walking on a knife’s edge. Will they be able to get to the other side without getting cut?” said one former administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely. “They’re likely going to get slammed on both sides, which may mean they’ve found the right balance.” In place of Title 42, officials also plan to rely on a new rule that will bar some migrants from applying for asylum in the U.S. if they cross the border illegally or fail to first apply for safe harbor in another country. The administration has been working to finalize and implement the rule — a version of a Trump-era policy often called the “transit ban” — before May 11. The administration will also expand expedited removal processes under Title 8, officials said Thursday, which would allow the government to remove from the country anyone unable to establish a legal basis — such as an approved asylum claim. “Unlike the Title 42 public health authority, the penalty for being removed from the United States under Title 8 through expedited removal and other immigration laws we will be enforcing is not just removal,” Mayorkas said. “An individual who is removed is subject to at least a five-year ban on admission to the United States and can face criminal prosecution for any subsequent attempt to cross the border.” The Biden administration has 24,000 agents and officers at the border and is hiring an additional 300 border patrol agents this year. They’re also prepping Custom and Border Protection facilities to include spaces for interviews with asylum officers, immigration judges and for counsel purposes. DHS on Thursday also notified Congress of its plans to reprogram funds within its budget to adjust to emerging needs at the border. Mayorkas also emphasized the need for more funds beyond the $2.7 billion passed in the December Omnibus — more than $2 billion lower than its $4.9 billion request. The Biden administration has faced bipartisan criticism for its lack of communication on the southern border. The move to publicly detail its Title 42 preparedness comes amid growing anxiety among lawmakers and immigrant advocates as May 11 quickly approaches. Mayorkas and other White House officials have held several meetings with immigration advocates on Capitol Hill in recent days to discuss immigration policy ahead of May 11. But to the frustration of those lawmakers, the administration had not shared details of what they might do to prevent what many fear will be a humanitarian crisis at the border. MOST READ biden-83982.jpg White House regroups after McCarthy’s debt ceiling success Tucker who? GOP establishment says meh to TV gadfly’s demise E. Jean Carroll, under pointed questioning from Trump lawyer: ‘He raped me whether I screamed or not’ Pence appears before Jan. 6 grand jury As Trump rallies in New Hampshire, legal woes play in real time Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), vice chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said despite the lack of details before Thursday, White House officials have expressed seriousness about the May 11 date. “If there’s one impression that I took from … the meeting it’s that they’re actively moving the wheels to make sure that there’s some level of readiness,” he said. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ top priority is to ensure that there is no family detention, which Mayorkas addressed during Thursday’s announcements. They also want to see more resources go to ports of entry, ensuring migrants know of legal resources and less invasive tracking of people, such as eliminating ankle bracelets. “We have no plan to detain families. As I mentioned, we will be employing alternatives to detention, including some innovations in that regard and we will on a case by case basis use enhanced alternatives to detention as warranted,” Mayorkas said. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.