Venezuelan Migrants Who Cross US Border Now Face Deportation

Deportation Back to South America

Migrants from Venezuela who are journeying to the U.S. southern border in the attempts to gain asylum in the United States are now facing deportation back to Venezuela or another country where they had settled such as Colombia. These deportations will be carried out under Title 42 which allows authorities to forego immigration proceedings for asylum seekers if the migrants have come from a place where a communicable disease (such as COVID-19) is present.

Asylum seekers who are originally from Venezuela but have settled in another country like Colombia in the past few years will be deported back to their country of residence. Others will be returned to Venezuela through a third country like the Dominican Republic due to the U.S.’s severed diplomatic ties with Venezuela.

Since taking office, the Biden administration has continued to implement the Trump era usage of Title 42 to deport asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border. With a swelling crisis of more and more migrants seeking asylum at the border, it is the administration’s hope that deportation back to the homelands of the migrants will discourage both traffic to the border and illegal crossings into the United States.

A Rise in Venezuelan Immigrants at the Border

Border officials have reported seeing a surge in the number of Venezuelan migrants looking to seek asylum at the U.S. southern border. It is estimated that there are over 6 million Venezuelans who have been displaced from their home country due to economic collapse, violence, and an authoritative regime under President Nicolás Maduro. Many Venezuelans settled in neighboring countries like Colombia, however more and more are heading north to seek asylum in the United States.

As Venezuelans are not required to obtain a tourist visa to visit Mexico, many migrants fly to a Mexican border city then cross into the United States where they surrender to U.S. authorities. As a result, there are an estimated 4,500 Venezuelan nationals currently held in U.S. immigration detention centers.

In 2021, the Biden administration announced that it would allow the thousands of Venezuelan nationals who had been residing in the United States Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS can only be granted to those Venezuelan applicants who could prove their continuous residence in the United States as of March 8th, 2021. However, thousands of Venezuelan migrants who are now crossing into the United States through Mexico believe that they are entitled to same benefit of TPS designation despite not being eligible.

Why immigrants are coming

In recent years, the country of Venezuela has suffered a number of hardships including hyperinflation, pandemic, and the rise of drug traffickers and insurgent groups. Under President Nicolás Maduro, the country which was once wealthy due to its possession of the world’s largest proven oil reserves is now destitute. Many in the country face widespread hunger and malnutrition along with a crumbling infrastructure and rise in violent crime.

Furthermore, the U.S. government refuses to recognize Maduro as the country’s legitimate president and has described the country as having an “illegitimate and authoritarian regime” whose leaders and security forces committed “crimes against humanity” against their citizens. Due to the humanitarian crisis in the country, the Biden administration allowed for TPS designation for Venezuelan nationals residing in the United States in 2021 so as to prevent people from the danger of returning to a worsening humanitarian crisis. It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States who are eligible for TPS which is more than any other nationality designated for TPS.