Washington (AFP) - President Joe Biden sought Thursday to address one of his chief political weak points by rolling out an overhaul of immigration from poor, often violent and repressive countries to the south ahead of his own first visit to the US-Mexico border this weekend.
Biden was to address the nation Thursday, laying the groundwork for a visit to El Paso, Texas, on Sunday, senior US officials said.This will come right before he travels to Mexico City on Monday and Tuesday for a North America leaders' summit.
While in El Paso, Biden will "address border enforcement operations and meet with local officials," a senior official said.
Biden will "call on Congress to fully fund our request for record resources...and to fix our broken immigration system."
On Thursday, the White House unveiled the latest attempt to ease pressure at the overwhelmed border, where often desperately poor undocumented migrants and asylum seekers are arriving in record numbers.
Up to 30,000 qualifying migrants a month will be allowed into the United States from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela if they arrive by plane, while restrictions are tightened on those seeking to enter illegally, a senior US official said.
"These measures will expand and expedite legal pathways for orderly migration and result in new consequences for those who fail to use those legal pathways," the White House said in a statement.
The quota of legal migrants will be restricted to those already with a US sponsor, while those attempting to cross the US-Mexico border illegally will be expelled under the controversial Title 42 rule and beefed-up law enforcement presence, in coordination with Mexico.
Political hot potato
A similar program was launched for Venezuelans only in October, allowing in those fleeing poverty and repression in the South American country, provided they could show US ties.
However, Title 42 use is at the center of a fierce debate.
The measure was implemented under Donald Trump's administration, ostensibly as a health measure to reduce the flow of people during the Covid pandemic.However, human rights advocates and many in Biden's Democratic party said the use of Title 42 was an abuse of a health emergency by an openly anti-immigration president.
Biden's administration is actually seeking to remove the rule and is now waiting for the Supreme Court to decide whether it should stay or go.So the new embrace of the tool for restricting migrants -- it allows border guards to send back illegal crossers without any further process -- will likely cause uproar among some in his party.
A senior administration official rejected criticism that the new plan does too little and amounts to a disguised slamming of the immigration door.
The plan is a "watershed," the official said.
Migrants qualifying for the legal pathway will have to apply in their home countries and arrive by air -- a measure meant to reduce the pressure on overwhelmed border guards and also cut down on the dangerous journeys taken overland through human smuggling routes.
This will "take the smugglers out of the equation," the official said.
The US economy relies heavily on immigrant labor.However, uncontrolled migration over the long Mexico border, including large numbers of asylum seekers and also illegal crossers sneaking across often dangerous terrain, has strained the system beyond easy repair.
Multiple presidents have failed to resolve the exceptionally complex issue.
Trump rose to power in 2016 in large part on his message that criminals, including rapists and murderers, were pouring across the border.The incendiary rhetoric struck a chord in communities already nervous about crime or loss of jobs.
Biden, who defeated Trump in 2020, took office vowing to restore traditional US values at the border, giving refuge to asylum seekers and ending harsh detention policies for illegal border crossers.
The issue is one of Biden's main political weaknesses as he prepares for what aides say will be his likely announcement of a bid for a second term in office.
