The Biden administration is allegedly planning to expand its expulsions of immigrants from Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba caught along the southern border, according to Reuters.
The article reported that the administration plans to use pandemic-era restrictions to expel the immigrants.
This comes days after a Supreme Court ruling that determined the pandemic-era restriction of Title 42 must stay in place, the report said.
The policy shift for the immigrants could come as soon as this week, two unnamed administration officials told Reuters. But a third unnamed official said it could only apply to Cuban and Haitian immigrants this week, with the new order going into effect for Nicaraguans at a later date. The unnamed source said no final decision has been made. However, the new policy would allow immigrants who are attempting to come to the United States through the air for humanitarian purposes to enter the country.
The new policy is based on an existing program for Venezuelans that allows 24,000 of them to apply to come to the U.S. by plane if they have sponsors in America. Venezuelans attempting to enter the U.S. on the ground through the southern border are usually rejected.
The policy comes as the southern border faces an unprecedented influx of illegal immigration. More immigrants were encountered attempting to enter the U.S. without authorization in November than any month in U.S. history, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data published last week.
Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller noted that the influx saw a decrease in the percentage of immigrants from Mexico as more immigrants from countries like Haiti and Cuba flock to the border.
“Individuals from Mexico and northern Central America accounted for just 30% of unique encounters in November, a significant drop from the 53% they represented a year ago, as more migrants arrive from a variety of other countries, including Cuba and Nicaragua,” Miller said in a statement.
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December’s border numbers could surpass November’s after a surge of illegal immigration encounters occurred in El Paso, Texas, earlier this month.