On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times revealed:
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced the major expansion of a program that would allow many such youths into the country legally, part of its stated goal to increase “legal pathways” for immigration. The changes could boost the number of Salvadoran, Guatemalan and Honduran children joining their families in the U.S. from several hundred to tens of thousands.
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The in-country processing will resume with Tuesday’s announcement, administration officials said. Advocates warned against allowing burdensome backlogs to form in El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras, with screening, interviews, vetting, and cross-border paperwork that delay and ultimately discourage applicants, some of whom feel too at risk to wait it out [and choose to take their shot trying to sneak into the U.S.]
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The in-country processing will resume with Tuesday’s announcement, administration officials said. Advocates warned against allowing burdensome backlogs to form in El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras, with screening, interviews, vetting, and cross-border paperwork that delay and ultimately discourage applicants, some of whom feel too at risk to wait it out [and choose to take their shot trying to sneak into the U.S.]
On Tuesday, The U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed the LA Times reporting, which cited an anonymous source:
The program in question is the State Department-administered Central American Minors (CAM) program, established by the Obama-Biden administration in 2014 in response to a wave of unescorted children reaching the border. Its expansion would essentially allow the sitting Democrat president to use the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) to create a new immigration pathway for the families of migrants — chain migration. On March 10, the Biden administration announced it was restarting the program.
The LA Times added:
Tuesday’s decision vastly increases the potential pool of children who will be allowed to seek entry. It expands the categories of adults who may petition for children to join them, adding to the mix legal guardians and parents whose legal status in the U.S. is still being processed, including those with pending asylum cases or applications for what is known as a U visa given to victims of violence, the official said.
The official [who spoke on condition of anonymity] said there could be at least 100,000 newly eligible petitioners.
Many of the children and youths — who must be unmarried and younger than 21 — also will be allowed to avail themselves of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which provides numerous benefits and is also being expanded by the Biden administration, the official said.
The official [who spoke on condition of anonymity] said there could be at least 100,000 newly eligible petitioners.
Many of the children and youths — who must be unmarried and younger than 21 — also will be allowed to avail themselves of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which provides numerous benefits and is also being expanded by the Biden administration, the official said.
Former President Donald Trump shut down CAM in 2017. The program allowed parents living legally in the U.S. to petition to have their children join them to diminish the number of kids traveling alone. It also allowed migrants attempting to go to the U.S. to apply for refugee status and await the processing of their applications in their home countries.
