There was no plan in Natalia’s life to migrate, but the economic conditions forced her to do so, so she opted for humanitarian parole to migrate with three other family members.
Natalia Gonzalez’s Journey: A Venezuelan Teacher’s Experience with Humanitarian Parole Migration to the US
“The process of traveling was very simple, we were approved to travel with the humanitarian parole modality. We traveled from Valencia to Miami and then to Dallas, Texas.” This is how Natalia Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Venezuelan teacher from Yaracuy, immigrated to the United States with her two children.
Natalia had not planned to migrate in her life, but economic conditions forced her to do so, so she opted for humanitarian parole to migrate with three other family members.
When she arrived in Miami, they did the appropriate screening and put a kind of voucher in her passport. The process took some time, but there were no major problems. Then she moved to Dallas, Texas, where he is already working:
“The parole process was very easy and we were treated very well here,” she says, recounting her experience as a migrant.
When asked about her reasons for migrating, she was very clear: “Because I want a better life for myself and my children.”
For Natalia, the migration crisis could be eased. “I hope that visas for Venezuelans will be approved again so that we don’t have to go to another country to go through this process because that would reduce the number of people staying in this country (the U.S.),” she says.
Natalia believes that with an approved visa, “Venezuelans would travel and spend 4 or 5 months and then return to Venezuela. The big solution to the migration crisis is “for Venezuela to fix itself,“ but until that happens, many of us will continue to migrate, she said.
In Natalia’s life, migration was not planned, but economic conditions forced her, so she opted for humanitarian parole to migrate with three other family members.
Parole to alleviate the crisis
Parole is a humanitarian measure announced by the Biden administration that establishes a set of rules for orderly migration. President Joe Biden has launched a series of migration measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused by the massive migration of Venezuelans and three other countries.
It all began with the arrival of mass migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Colombia, Cuba and Haiti at the U.S.-Mexico border, collapsing the border cities of Coahuila, Ciudad Juarez, Piedras Negras and many others.
According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statistics, more than 3,000 migrants were apprehended each day in December trying to enter the country illegally, many of them Venezuelans.
The number of people trying to enter the United States was so great that shelters had to be opened on both the Mexican and U.S. sides.
The migration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border exceeded the capacity of both governments, so the Joe Biden administration announced a series of measures as part of an orderly migration plan. This triggered a series of actions by the governors of Texas and other border states.
They claim that there are not enough resources to deal with the large number of migrants who have crossed.
The governors have expressed their concerns to President Joel Biden about the lack of resources and have asked the federal government for help in dealing with the humanitarian crisis.
Migration measures
2022 was a year marked by a migration crisis, mainly of Venezuelans crossing Central America to reach the United States. Many lives were lost in the dangerous Darien Border crossing, then on to Guatemala and from there to Mexico, a very dangerous migratory route.
On October 18, immigration measures were announced for Venezuelans, with special emphasis on not allowing irregular entry by land. However, the possibility was opened for 24,000 Venezuelans to enter the United States in an orderly manner and with a sponsor through humanitarian parole.
The parole allows Venezuelans to travel to the United States by air with a sponsor.
After a judge ordered Title 42 upheld in December, President Biden’s administration announced an immigration program that will allow 30,000 migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela to enter the United States.
This brings the total to 360,000 migrants per year and opens the door to other nationalities, as only 24,000 Venezuelans per year were previously admitted under parole.
Actions with the support of Mexico
The governments of Mexico and the United States agree on orderly migration, so the Biden administration activated rapid deportation with the support of Mexico, which agreed to receive the migrants.
But it is not all bad. There are several policies that the U.S. has adopted that benefit migrants, so much so that Republican state attorneys general have sued the U.S. over its immigration policies.
State governors, even those who support Biden, have suffered the consequences of his immigration policy, which is evident when resources are exhausted to take care of a large number of migrants in cities such as New York, El Paso, Miami and so on.
What are these immigration policies?
Recently, the Border Patrol has activated an application for migrants seeking an exception to the asylum limits imposed during the pandemic.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began allowing migrants to make appointments up to two weeks in advance through its website and through CBP One, an app for mobile devices that the agency has been using on a limited basis since 2020, reports Diario de Las Americas.
Another recent announcement is that migrants will be able to apply for employment through the internet, following the simplification of procedures announced by the United States.
But that is not all; Biden’s government team is paving the way for the decriminalization of U.S. citizens who help immigrants. Accepting more refugees.
President Joe Biden set the number of refugees the U.S. can admit each fiscal year (October to October) at 125,000. In the first year, the goal is to mobilize up to 10,000 Americans to welcome about 5,000 refugees.
The launch of a new program to receive refugees, was last January 19, urging all Americans to sponsor one to increase the extremely low number of admissions in the country.
With half the country against him
Although many migrants complain about not being able to enter the United States and reject Joe Biden’s new immigration policy, this has created serious problems for him internally, as various figures in U.S. public life blame Biden for the immigration crisis.
At the beginning of his administration, Biden allowed the passage of migrants, but this was like a snowball that grew to the point that he had to reinstate Title 42; a measure implemented by Donald Trump that allowed the immediate expulsion of migrants under the pretext of health.
