WASHINGTON– President Joe Biden is pushing for a deal on border security and Ukraine funding, but a major sticking point in congressional negotiations has been whether to preserve the president’s authority to allow migrants into the United States in cases during global emergencies or unrest.
Republicans are mocking the authority, known as compassionate parole, as the Biden administration ends a congressional loophole that allows large numbers of immigrants into the United States that further burdens an already overburdened immigration system.
But this power to allow the entry of certain immigrants at certain times is not new or particularly novel. It has been used across political lines for decades to admit people from Hungary in the 1950s, Vietnam in the 1970s, and Iraqi Kurds in the 1990s. For recipients, it can be a lifesaver.
“Probation gave me this opportunity, it has made me realize my dreams, my life,” said Emilia Ferrer Triay, who arrived from Cuba in 1980 when she was a girl. “Everything changed from the first day I arrived, I saw that I had a future… that there were no restrictions.”
Ferrer was rescued from the Atlantic Ocean between Key West, Florida and Cuba, along with her uncles and younger brother who had been trying to reach the United States on a fishing boat. They were part of a massive influx of more than 125,000 Cubans who traveled from Cuba’s Mariel port to the United States that year.
Ferrer, now 57, said that from the beginning he had the opportunity to go to school and learn English, then he went to university. She works full time, is married and has three children born in the United States. She herself became a citizen eight years after her arrival.
“I would be very unhappy if I had to stay in Cuba,” he said. “You have no future, you cannot dream. Here I have been able to do everything.”
Voters are increasingly concerned about immigration and it is expected to be a major factor in the 2024 elections. The Democratic administration has been harshly criticized by Republicans, who say its policies have only encouraged more immigrants to cross the border illegally. border between the United States and Mexico.
“For the American people, what the Biden administration is doing is illegal. It is encouraging illegal immigration,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.S.C. She said parole was the administration’s “preferred tool” that has allowed too many people to enter the United States.
But the American immigration system has been increasingly strained for years, with each presidential administration testing the limits of executive power, while Congress has always refused to act on immigration policy. The Biden administration’s approach — cracking down on illegal crossings while opening new avenues for those arriving by air with sponsors — is just the latest in a long line of attempts to rein in the country’s immigration system.
The authority used by the administration is known as “probation” because otherwise immigrants would be detained while their immigration cases are heard. Instead, they are given “parole” or allowed to enter the U.S. But the authority is unrelated to the criminal justice idea of a person who has been paroled after serving a sentence. after a conviction.
Under the Biden administration, the United States has relied heavily on humanitarian parole. The United States airlifted nearly 80,000 Afghans from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and brought them to the United States after the Taliban takeover. The United States has admitted tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled after the Russian invasion.
In January 2023, the administration announced a plan to admit 30,000 people a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as long as those migrants had a financial sponsor and flew to the United States instead of going to the US-U.S. border. Mexico to enter. The United States has created a mobile application for people to apply online wherever they are, instead of traveling to the United States.
Texas sued the administration to stop the allocations, arguing in part that the plan was bringing too many people to the border. Republican senators are also taking aim at the program.
Senate Democrats and immigrant advocates say parole is a valuable tool that provides urgent relief to people fleeing unrest and helps manage the border. Before the plan, immigrants from those nations made up the vast majority of people entering the United States illegally. Subsequently, arrests of those nationalities decreased dramatically.
“That’s a great model for the future that we’ve also seen reduce congestion at the border,” said Andrea Flores, who worked as a policy adviser in the Obama and Biden administrations and is now vice president of FWD.us, a reporting agency. immigration. defense organization.
Over the years, probation has been used to offer safe and quick refuge. Administration officials are reluctant to cut off the ability to use authority not only now, but in the future.
“It’s very important to understand that it is being used today as a way for the administration to better manage the flow, in a planned manner, of people to the border,” said Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the Senate Democratic leader. talks.
Political journalist Marcelo Conde fled Nicaragua last year after receiving death threats because he was not in favor of President Daniel Ortega. Conde feared that if he left Nicaragua legally, he would be detained and imprisoned when authorities saw his name on his passport.
“Parole became an opportunity, but also a dichotomy because it was not approved quickly,” Conde, 34, said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Las Vegas. “I waited over 100 days,” she said.
When he finally arrived in the United States, he received authorization to work. In Nevada, he works as a waiter. Conde speaks Spanish, French and English and hopes to soon work as a journalist in the US.
Republican senators have refused to approve any additional aid for Ukraine or Israel without changes to US border policy. Negotiations have dragged on for weeks, but both sides say they are getting closer to an agreement and the Senate could consider the legislation next week.
In recent days, negotiators have discussed possible compromises, including limits on the number of immigrants eligible for parole, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversations.
“Let’s figure out a way to get a clear definition and figure out how to resolve this,” said Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the lead Republican negotiator.
Lankford highlighted the online application for immigrants seeking parole. “It’s a continued pull to the border to bring in more people,” she said.
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Salomón reported from Miami.