More than 181,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans have arrived in the United States after benefiting from humanitarian parole, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Friday.
A DHS official stated that this program has “significantly reduced irregular migration and deprived traffickers of the ability to exploit these individuals.”
By the end of July, more than 41,000 people from Cuba, 72,000 from Haiti, 34,000 from Nicaragua, and 63,000 from Venezuela had been tested and cleared to enter the United States, where they would receive permanent two-year residency in the country under the program.
According to the authorities, there are around 39,000 Cubans, more than 60,000 Haitians, 27,000 Nicaraguans, and more than 55,000 Venezuelans who have already entered the country.
DHS noted that they “continue to process individuals who have applied for parole” through a system that selects half of the applications on a first-come, first-served basis and the other half through a lottery system.
According to the official, “This approach has been successful and is working to the extent that we are seeing continued interest in the program.”
DHS did not disclose how many people applied for the humanitarian parole program or how many were approved in July.
Up to 30,000 people could benefit from the program monthly, as determined by the US government.
Irregular border crossings by migrants increased month by month
Despite the dramatic drop in illegal migrant crossings at the US southern border reported in June after the end of Title 42, the number of encounters with undocumented migrants increased in the last month.
Data released by the Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) shows that authorities had 132,652 encounters with irregular migrants in July.
In June, the number of such encounters had reached its lowest level in two years. Despite the increase, DHS said the current figure remains 27% “lower” than July 2022.
“Encounters with border guards remained significantly lower than before until the end of the Title 42 public health response in May,” the official said.
“The border is not open, but as every year, we are seeing inflows of immigrants driven by seasonal trends and smugglers’ efforts to encourage migration,” he added.
Immigration authorities continue to process migrants under Title 8, which includes deportation, exclusion from legal migration routes, and a five-year ban on entry into the country.
CBP One usage continues to grow
In July, border authorities processed more than 44,700 people who had an appointment with CBP One to show up at a port of entry at the US border, authorities said.
The main nationalities that managed to access the services of the application are Haitian, Mexican, and Venezuelan. Currently, CBP One allows the booking of up to 1,450 appointments per day for people in central or northern Mexico.
According to CBP, the application has enabled more than 188,500 people to book a seat since its launch in January this year.
“These pathways provide us with enhanced intelligence on who is coming to our border and allow us to better utilize Border Police resources to repel people who are not using these pathways and are attempting to transfer between ports of entry instead,” he said. the DHS officer.
According to DHS, an additional 6,000 people who did not have a CBP One appointment was also cleared at ports of entry. This “is incredibly important and an integral part of border access for people who, for one reason or another, cannot access the CBP,” the official said.
The US government points out that the number of refugees in the western hemisphere has reached a “record level”, with more than 7.2 million Venezuelans fleeing their country. Currently, 83% of this population lives in Latin American and Caribbean countries.
