Washington (AFP) - The United States on Thursday revamped its policy on migrants by setting up processing centers overseas and toughening penalties for unlawful entry, anticipating a surge of arrivals as Covid-era rules expire next month.
President Joe Biden's administration, which has struggled to find a balance on an issue that has galvanized its Republican rivals, said it expected a sharp increase in the number of Latin American migrants able to emigrate through legal channels.
Colombia and Guatemala agreed to set up centers to review the applications of migrants -- who will be denied entry if they try on their own to reach the US border.
Canada and Spain have also agreed to take in some of the people who will be cleared to emigrate, US officials said.
"It's an approach focused on making migration more safe, orderly and humane and advancing the interests of the American people," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference.
The State Department said it aimed to double the number of refugees the United States takes in from the Western Hemisphere.Biden's previous commitment, made last June at a regional summit in Los Angeles, was to accept up to 20,000 Latin American refugees over the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years.
US officials said they were in touch with other countries about opening additional centers and would also make it easier for approved migrants to bring in family members.
Migrants will be able to make appointments, including through a mobile app, at the centers.
'Our border is not open'
The measures were announced ahead of the May 11 lifting of emergency orders that former president Donald Trump, a staunch immigration opponent, used to seal off the border during the Covid-19 pandemic and send migrants to Mexico.
The Biden administration, which had promised a more humane approach but initially kept in place most of Trump's border policy, said it would strictly enforce laws against unauthorized entry -- a rallying cry for Republican opponents.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged that the United States expects a rise in unauthorized border crossings after the end of the Covid restrictions and blamed "smugglers' propaganda."
"Let me be clear.Our border is not open and will not be open after May 11," Mayorkas told the news conference.
Mayorkas warned of the "swift and immediate" return of migrants who seek to enter unlawfully with bans of at least five years on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution for repeated attempts to cross.
"When people have safe and orderly pathways to come to the United States and face consequences for failing to do so, they use those pathways," Mayorkas said.
Mayorkas said it would also deny entry to anyone who seeks to enter unlawfully by sea, after alarm over a rise in dangerous journeys by Haitians and Cubans.
The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a faith-based group that helps with resettlement in the United States, said the Biden administration was depriving due process for vulnerable people who come to the US border, doing away with decades of precedent.
While the new setup has "some promising measures for managing migration humanely, the Biden administration has prioritized its predecessor's stick over the carrot," said Lee Williams, the group's chief programs officer.
Around 20 million people are displaced across the Western Hemisphere, around one-fifth of the global total.
The United States has witnessed a surge of migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador fleeing rampant violence, poverty and crop failures worsened by climate change, as well as Haitians escaping unrest and the collapse of government control.
Venezuela has also seen millions of people flee since the oil-rich nation's economy imploded under President Nicolas Maduro.
