The U.S. Temporarily Halts Humanitarian Entry for Citizens of Four Countries

The Biden administration has temporarily suspended the humanitarian program allowing migrants from four countries—Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—to enter the United States. The reason for this temporary halt is to investigate potential fraud among the financial sponsors of the migrants. This policy allowed up to 30,000 migrants from these countries to enter the U.S. legally each month, provided they had American sponsors willing to financially support them. The government first initiated this program in late 2022 and expanded it in early 2023 to deter migrants from making illegal journeys to the southern U.S. border with Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security announced that while reviewing applications submitted by U.S.-based sponsors, it has stopped issuing travel documents for individuals applying under this program. On Friday, August 12, the department stated that it would resume its programs as soon as possible, considering appropriate precautions. Two individuals familiar with the Biden administration's decisions indicated that the U.S. first imposed this restriction on Venezuelan citizens in July and later added the names of the other three countries. These sources added that the suspension of the program was due to concerns raised by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Fraud Detection Office, which noted that a significant number of potential sponsors had applied simultaneously to support multiple migrants. Potential sponsors must be U.S. citizens or residents or have a specific legal status in the U.S. The DHS statement mentioned that criminal cases would be filed against individuals who commit fraud under this program. According to government statistics, since the implementation of this supportive policy, about 520,000 citizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela have been allowed to fly directly and legally to U.S. airports, which has led to a decrease in the number of illegal migrants.