Biden Administration to Start Deporting Venezuelan Migrants

Updated October 12, 2023, 12:38 p.m. PST

• The Biden administration will begin deporting thousands of Venezuelan migrants directly to Venezuela, reversing a long-standing policy. Venezuelans who cross the US-Mexico border unlawfully and lack a legal basis to remain in the United States will be targeted for deportation.
• The move comes three weeks after Biden announced that he would offer expanded work permits and grant temporary legal status to Venezuelan migrants who arrived prior to July 31. The deportation policy will impact migrants who arrived after that date. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said: 

“We have made a determination it is safe to return Venezuelan nationals who arrived in the United States subsequent to July 31 and do not have a legal basis to remain here.”

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the move, saying:

“Under the Los Angeles Declaration … we’re charged with taking coordinated actions to try to stabilize flows, to expand regular pathways, to humanely manage all of our borders. Repatriations are a key piece to this balanced approach.”

• Repatriation flights are set to begin shortly, and Venezuela has agreed to accept deported nationals. Over 7.7 million people have fled Venezuela, a level of displacement that exceeds Ukraine, the site of an active war.
• Former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Sandweg said:

“Restarting deportations to Venezuela will send a deterrence message. I would also expect it to trigger a short term drop in Venezuelan apprehensions.”

• Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service said:

“Returning thousands of Venezuelans to the same unimaginably dangerous conditions they just fled is a profoundly problematic policy for the world’s humanitarian leader to adopt.”

What's the story?

• The Biden administration will grant Temporary Protected Status to approximately 472,000 Venezuelan migrants already in the country, making them eligible to work.
• Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas granted the expansion because of "Venezuela's increased instability and lack of safety due to the enduring humanitarian, security, political, and environmental conditions."
• The move could satisfy Democratic lawmakers who have been pressuring Biden to take meaningful action as Democrat-led cities like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles struggle with an influx of migrants.
• New York's Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is:

"Grateful the federal government has acted so speedily to grant one of our top priorities: Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelan asylum seekers and migrants who have already arrived in this country."

Who is eligible?

• The program will impact migrants who arrived before July 31, but those eligible must still apply for the protected status. The move also includes an 18-month extension for those previously granted temporary status. Venezuelans who arrived in the U.S. after July 31 of this year are not eligible.
• Prior to the announcement, 242,700 Venezuelan migrants already qualified for temporary status. 
• The administration said it is aiming to grant work permits within 30 days, but migrants who crossed illegally to seek asylum must, by law, wait six months in order to receive a work permit.

What is happening in Venezuela?

• Over the last decade, Venezuela has been experiencing an economic and humanitarian crisis, and food and medicine have become unaffordable for millions of people who remain in the country.
• Over 7.3 million people left the country in the last decade. While the majority have settled in neighboring countries, millions have headed North, taking the treacherous Darien Gap, one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world.

Do you agree with the move?

-Emma Kansiz

(Photo Credit: : IOM/Gema Cortes)