A new immigration policy that avoids a dangerous journey is working. But border crossings continue.
Migrants are arriving in the U.S. under the Biden administration’s new “safe mobility offices,” set up in Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Ecuador.
Alexa Llanos, 7, plays with a scooter she received as a Christmas gift from the resettlement agency, as her mother Diomaris Barboza and little brother Alexis sit in the shade, outside the home the family moved into in October 2023, five years after fleeing Venezuela to Colombia to escape death threats and political persecution, in Lehigh Acres, Fla., Dec. 27, 2023. The family is among the first migrants allowed into the U.S. under the Biden administration’s new “safe mobility offices,” intended to streamline the U.S. refugee process so migrants don’t give up and pay smugglers to make the journey north. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Republicans are also pushing the Democratic president to back more restrictive policies that would dramatically reduce asylum protections, among other things, and they believe they have leverage if he wants to see another infusion of tens of billions in aid to Ukraine.
The Biden administration has worked to crack down on illegal crossings but has also sought to broaden legal pathways through efforts like the safe mobility initiative, to provide alternatives for migrants in the hope they don’t journey north.
Those who do arrive on foot to the U.S.-Mexico border and ask for asylum get a court date and must prove they are eligible to stay. The system is badly backlogged, so they often end up waiting years for a court date while they sit in limbo in the U.S.
Immigrant advocates say the safe mobility initiative needs work — it can be confusing, isn’t advertised well so enough migrants aren’t aware of it, and it isn’t open to enough people. For example, in Colombia, only Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans present in Colombia before or on June 11 are eligible right now.
Still, they say, it’s a start. And when families do make it, they are usually handed off to a non-governmental organization that helps resettle them into the U.S.
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