America’s Voice Reacts to New Family Visa Parole Program for Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras
Washington, DC – On Friday, the Biden Administration announced a legal pathway for select individuals from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to apply to join their U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident family members in the United States if they already have a family visa petition approved but are just waiting in a backlog for that visa to become available. The new announcement builds on the successes of similar parole programs, including one for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans that has played a role in the relative order and calm that has followed the end of Title 42.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“We welcome the Biden administration’s move to expand ways that people who go through a vetting process can come to the U.S. with a visa rather than a smuggler. This is for folks who have had their family reunification petition approved but would typically be waiting a while for their visas because of processing backlogs. New legal pathways are working and are part of a series of measures by the administration to reduce pressure on the border, reunify families and advance legal solutions to migration challenges.
The announcement and its underlying approach also draw a sharp contrast with Republicans, who continue to advance their ugly and pre-baked political attacks on immigration and the border as if their apocalyptic predictions about the end of Title 42 had come true. The reality is that legal immigration and expanded pathways that alleviate pressure on the border are the best way to combat the supposed border chaos and so-called ‘illegality’ that the GOP purports to care about. Yet Republicans – through the courts and in Congress – have been seeking to block or dismantle these approaches that are meant to bring order and are showing real successes. We expect them to similarly oppose and seek to challenge the newly announced parole program as well.
We still need a broader modernization of our entire immigration system and for Congress and the Republican Party to come to the table on real solutions. For its part, the Biden Administration needs to do more. In addition to additional legal pathways, there is an urgent need for work authorization for immigrants already here with deep roots in the U.S. who could be contributing even more to our economy if allowed to work legally. In the interim, expanded legal immigration pathways advance both order and justice and draw a sharp contrast between those seeking real solutions and those seeking to perpetuate and politicize chaos.”
- Read the new op-ed from Vanessa Cárdenas in The Messenger: “The Harms of Republicans’ Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric”
