Oct 06,2023:The administration of US President Joe Biden will resume deporting Venezuelan migrants, and add sections to the southern border wall, carrying forward a signature policy of former President Donald Trump.
Washington’s announcement came on Thursday, two weeks after Biden extended temporary legal status to more than 470,000 Venezuelans living in the United States, saying that “the conditions in their home country prevent their safe return”.
The Venezuelan migrants were the largest single group encountered at the US-Mexico border last month.
The US government is under political pressure to stem the flow of people.
For more than a year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been busing migrants from the southern US border to places like New York, Washington and Chicago, prompting angry complaints from Democratic officials in those cities.
One of Biden’s first actions after taking office in January 2021 was to issue a proclamation pledging that “no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall” as well as a review of all resources that had already been committed.
The administration said Thursday’s action did not deviate from Biden’s proclamation because money that was allocated during Trump’s term in 2019 had to be spent now.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that there was “no new Administration policy with respect to border walls. From day one, this Administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer”.
Mayorkas said the construction project was appropriated during the prior administration and the law requires the government to use the funds, with an announcement made earlier in the year.
“We have repeatedly asked Congress to rescind this money but it has not done so and we are compelled to follow the law,” he said.
