Mexican president backs US migration policy for Venezuelans

MEXICO CITY

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday endorsed US President Joe Biden's new immigration program to expel Venezuelan migrants into Mexican territory.

According to Lopez Obrador, the new policy protects Venezuelan migrants from the dangers of crossing the country irregularly, including the presence of organized crime and human traffickers.

"This is also to discourage the activity of "polleros" and human traffickers because there are those who charge, deceive and put migrants at risk, they do not care if they are assaulted and injured during the journey, but we have to take care of the human rights of migrants if this mechanism is opened, we have to take advantage of it, not say that it is useless or it will not be enough," said the president at a press conference.

On Oct. 12, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that only 24,000 Venezuelan immigrants would be eligible for temporary visas in American territory.

The new migration policy imposed a series of requirements on Venezuelans, including the need for a "supporter"- an individual with legal status in the US who can financially sponsor them, and that the entry into the US must be by air travel.

The program, which seeks to discourage migration to the US, leaves thousands of Venezuelans who do not have supporters living in the US or the means to travel by plane ineligible for the visas.

In addition, all Venezuelans who try to cross the US-Mexico border will be immediately shut down and return to Mexico.

"What is being asked is that they do not make the journey, and especially if they pass through Mexico, they would no longer have the right to this temporary visa," added the president.

On behalf of Washington, the Mexican government has pledged to regulate the migratory status of Venezuelan immigrants in Mexico, following the "Remain in Mexico" policy imposed by then-President Donald Trump in 2019.

According to Lopez Obrador's calculations, there are currently 140,000 Venezuelan migrants living in Mexico, for which he has pledged protection and care.

"We are going to support those in our territory, as we always do, with shelters, food, and medical attention," he said.

This is not the first time that the Mexican government has followed the anti-immigration plans of the united states.

Since the first year of Lopez Obrador's administration, the Mexican government has allocated resources to militarize the country's borders, using military personnel in immigration control tasks.

The Mexican government reported a record-breaking number of arrests of migrants traveling through Mexico without documentation.

In 2021 alone, immigration authorities apprehended 307,569 migrants, making Lopez Obrador the president that has arrested the most migrants in a single year.