A large group of Venezuelan migrants appeared in distress, tears in their eyes and in panic at the Mexican border in Tijuana on Thursday – hours later President Biden announced they would be deported the United States.
The migrants were pictured at the El Chaparral entry point in Tijuana, shortly after Mexico agreed to accept Venezuelans currently being deported by the Biden administration.
Several women appear to be crying out for attention as they grab their belongings, including papers and water bottles. Several young men are also seen raising their arms.
“We are desperate, we have been through so much,” Yair Andrade, who arrived in Tijuana via Central America with his wife and children, told Reuters.
“We still don’t know how to get into the program. We cannot go back to Venezuela, we have nothing left there,” he added.
The Biden administration has flip-flopped on its ‘capture and release’ policy, which allowed tens of thousands of asylum-seeking migrants to stay in the US through lengthy legal proceedings, and reinstated a rule of the Trump era, Title 42, deport Venezuelan migrants arriving at Mexico’s southern border under a deal brokered Wednesday.
As part of the deal, the United States will grant 24,000 Venezuelans humanitarian entry by air – if they have a sponsor in the states. No details were given on what Mexico stands to gain from this deal.
Republicans immediately seized on the moment of the policy change – which comes weeks before the midterm elections – calling it a stunt.
“Biden cares more about performative politics and his party’s medium-term chances than about saving lives,” Republican National Committee spokesman Will O’Grady said. Washington Examiner.
“There is no quick fix to this problem, but new leadership would be a good start,” he added.
The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, and Mexico has previously refused to accept Venezuelans from the United States because their home country does not accept them. The country has now said it will admit migrants “temporarily” to help ease problems at the southern border.
The United States has seen an influx of migrants as political unrest and economic instability under the leadership of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has rocked the South American country.
The new regime got off to a rocky start. When Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas attempted to enforce Biden’s order, The Mexican authorities refused to accept them, Texas Republican Representative Tony Gonzales told the Post.
“Border Patrol worked with Mexican authorities to send about 100 people and Mexico sent them back immediately,” Gonzales said of Wednesday night’s incident in Texas.
“They basically said we didn’t have the logistics or the infrastructure to handle these people…it was a big fail,” he added.
On Thursday, Venezuelan migrants stranded at the Mexican border feared they would never reach the United States.
Up to 1,000 Venezuelans a day could be deported to Mexico under the new deal, two U.S. officials told Reuters.
About 300 Venezuelans were deported on Wednesday after the deal was announced, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
With post wires