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RFI interviewed Ana Ortega from the NGO Human Rights First about the start in the United States of the process so that Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians can request a humanitarian permit to settle in that country. This program is similar to the one he has been carrying out with Venezuelans since October 2022.
The process is not carried out in the US embassies, but through the internet, if possible from the place of origin. A US sponsor is also needed.
These requirements are difficult to meet for most people who seek protection, say organizations that defend the rights of migrants.
“Don’t come, don’t come to the border. Stay where you are and apply legally from there,” US President Joe Biden said last Thursday to Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who intend to settle in the United States.
The president intends to reduce the flow of migrants who are crowding the border with Mexico by the thousands, some of them waiting for an asylum application to be received because they are fleeing gang violence in their country, because they are threatened and their lives are in danger. danger. That is, they seek protection.
For migrant aid organizations, choosing four countries is discriminatory, it does not solve the humanitarian problem at the border, and the program requirements are difficult to meet.
“People who can benefit have to have a sponsor in the United States, they also have to have the financial means to finance a flight, they have to have a valid passport. However, we all know the political instability in those countries,” Ana Ortega of Human Rights First told RFI.
“Many people do not have a valid document. The United States is asking a super-vulnerable population group, many of whom have already left their countries of origin, requirements that are luxuries for them that cannot be afforded. Those requirements such Sometimes they work for middle class and upper class people. Asking someone to stay in their country of origin when they are fleeing and trying to put their family in a safe place is a luxury that person It can’t be done,” he says.
The door opens for some and the restrictions at the border are tightened for many others. Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans and Haitians who enter the United States or Panama irregularly, even if they are seeking asylum, will be expelled to Mexico, which will accept the return of 30,000 people per month.
“Our concern is that any person who is expelled to one of the most dangerous areas is vulnerable. Our organization has documented more than 10,000 cases that include sexual abuse, deaths, extortion, kidnappings by cartels. This trafficking and human trafficking has been the consequence of this policy. The so-called ‘Title 42’ has never protected asylum seekers.”
Title 42, created during the presidency of Donald Trump, is a border policy that allows the border patrol to expel migrants as a sanitary measure due to the coronavirus.
