Andrés*, a 23-year-old Venezuelan who recently received his temporary protected status from the United States government, checks his session at immigration and citizenship services every four hours. Last Friday, he applied for a parole humanitarian for his father, whom he has not seen for almost four years.
“I am waiting. It is an excellent opportunity to get together with your relatives, but there are 24,000 seats. I have too much faith despite the fact that I have not received any answer, because it is a door, a salvation, ”she tells the voice of america from Florida, where he resides.
The young man refers to the new immigration program for Venezuelans that the United States Department of Homeland Security announced this month.
It is a plan to grant a maximum of 24,000 humanitarian permits or visas, known as “parole” in English, to those who have an economic sponsor within the North American country and aspire to migrate legally for a period of two years, with the possibility of authorization labor.
The migration strategy was born in response to a considerable increase in the illegal income of Venezuelan migrants through the southern border of the United States with Mexico, which, only in September, exceeded 33,000, according to the federal government.
There are already “hundreds” of Venezuelans with their approved permits and who are only waiting to coordinate their air travel plans to the United States with this new plan, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) specified, revealing that they arrived in their territory over the weekend. the first four recipients.
It is too much uphill to wait two years to see if your visa is approved or not”
This parole has become a two-sided coin: on the one hand, it frustrated the illegal migration plans to seek asylum for thousands of Venezuelans who were on their way or were planning to travel overland to the United States, passing through the dangerous jungle of Darien; and, at the same time, harbored hopes of family reunions and better living conditions in many others.
Andrés is among the last group, although he has not received until Wednesday morning an official response to the request for a humanitarian visa for his father.
“I only have the request receipt form in my session, but so far nothing. The truth is that I hope it is approved and that many Venezuelans have the opportunity to be successful” in it, she says, referring to the website of the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).
He values the new immigration program as an alternative to “the delay” that other procedures entail to travel to the United States, at least for tourism or business. It happens that Venezuelans must request appointments for interviews for their US visas at consulates and embassies abroad, such as Colombia, Brazil, Chile or Mexico.
The US government, then headed by former President Donald Trump, closed its embassy in Caracas in 2019, after ignoring Nicolás Maduro as legitimate president, who still remains in the executive power of Venezuela.
The consular office led by James Story, its ambassador to Venezuela, is temporarily moved to Bogotá, Colombia. Hundreds of Venezuelans must travel to that city to have interviews about their visa application, although at the moment the next appointments are granted for 2025.
Andrés hopes that his father will not have to wait so long to meet again. “It is worrying, too much uphill, to wait two years to see if your visa is approved or not,” he confesses.
Return Trip
The humanitarian permit program has had immediate consequences on the Venezuelan diaspora in recent days, the Panamanian government found this week. The Central American nation has registered the entry into its territory through the Darién of at least 204,000 migrants, the vast majority of them of Venezuelan nationality. This situation has led the Panamanian government to decree on Tuesday the closure of the border with Costa Rica for Venezuelans without a visa.
Oriel Ortega, head of the Panamanian National Border Service, told the press that the arrival of migrants without valid documents to enter his country “has decreased considerably” since the new US plan came into effect.
According to figures from his office, an average of 1,000 undocumented migrants currently arrive -or even less-, when in October there was a peak of between 3,000 and 4,000.
Colombia and Panama are the first points of a long journey of illegal emigration of Venezuelans, who cross the 100 kilometers of the Darién jungle on foot, to then continue on their way to Central America, Mexico and, finally, the United States border.
The official confirmed that many Venezuelans who were already in transit when the new humanitarian permit was revealed “are being returned” through Costa Rica.
USA emphasized two weeks ago in which all illegal immigrants detained on its southern border would be immediately sent to Mexico and warned that those who entered Mexico or Panama without papers would not benefit from this plan either.
This Wednesday, another spokeswoman for the Panamanian government, Samira Gozaine, director of the Migration Service, reported that 900 irregular migrants returned to Venezuela voluntarily “on humanitarian flights.” Another 600 are expected to do the same shortly.
He specified that there are those who have bought their plane ticket with the diplomatic mission of the Maduro government in Panama, others who bet on private flights and there are also “many donors” who buy air tickets for these people who return.
“Just wait”
Ivette*, a retired Venezuelan, recently in her 70s, who lives in Maracaibo, in western Venezuela, says she was “shocked” by the announcement of the new DHS immigration program two weeks ago.
Without a visa, she did not know immediately if she could apply for the program, but she was filled with “hope” to be able to hug her children again, who have been exiled for years in the United States.
“When my children left in search of a better future, I clung to God so that I could overcome that absence. He asked him a lot to give me the opportunity to one day be able to be with them again and hug them. That is still my hope”, he tells the VOA.
Her son’s “happy face” is still fresh when they talked about the possibility of requesting humanitarian permission. For Ivette, the plan was bittersweet: “my heart was torn between the happiness of being with my children again and the anguish of leaving my country, my mother, my brothers, my friends, my partner, so many affections cultivated through life”.
My wish is to have the possibility to go and come back. I have never thought of leaving my country permanently”
His relative clarified that the program would allow him to reside with them for a maximum of two years. “I breathed. My wish is to have the possibility to go and come back. I have never thought of leaving my country permanently,” she warns, already excited after her son and an expert immigration lawyer helped her fill out her parole application last Friday.
Before, he says he “ran” to inject the first booster of his COVID-19 vaccine. He had each of his data at hand, including the precision that his annual salary in bolivars is equivalent to only 430 dollars. “My son and the lawyer were amazed,” she says.
In Venezuela, the monthly minimum wage is barely 16 dollars. Where Ivette lives, in western Maracaibo, electricity, water and telephone service are often in short supply.
Today, she feels “anxious”, she describes. She checks her email from time to time to check if a government response to her request has arrived. She does it, according to her words, “in the hope of receiving the approval notice” to fulfill the dream of seeing her children.
“The only thing left to do is wait,” she concludes, excited as she has rarely been in her last years.
The Voice of America identified humanitarian parole applicants to the US government under pseudonyms in response to fears that identifying them could affect the outcome of their immigration petitions. Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media:Facebook , Twitter andInstagram
