A sticking point in border security negotiations is humanitarian parole. Here’s what that means

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is pushing for a deal on border security and Ukraine financing, but a key sticking point in negotiations in Congress has become whether to preserve the president’s authority to allow migrants into the U.S. for special cases during emergencies or global unrest.

Republicans are mocking the authority, known as humanitarian parole, as a Biden administration bypasses Congress and allows large numbers of migrants into the U.S. that further burden an already overburdened immigration system.

But this power to admit certain immigrants at certain times is not new or particularly novel. It has been used for decades across political lines to admit people from Hungary in the 1950s, Vietnam in the 1970s and Iraqi Kurds in the 1990s. For recipients, it can be a lifeline.

“The parole gave me this opportunity, it made me realize my dreams and my life,” said Emilia Ferrer Triay, who came from Cuba as a young girl in 1980. “Everything changed from the first day I arrived, I saw that I had a future… that there were no limitations.”

Ferrer was plucked from the Atlantic Ocean between Key West, Florida and Cuba, along with her uncles and younger brother who were trying to reach the US via a fishing boat. They were part of a huge influx of more than 125,000 Cubans who traveled from Cuba’s Mariel Port to the United States that year.

Ferrer, now 57, said she had the opportunity to go to school and learn English from the beginning, then went to college. She works full-time, is married and has three US-born children. Eight years after arriving, she became a citizen herself.

“I would be very unhappy if I had to stay in Cuba,” she said. “You have no future, you cannot dream. I was able to do everything here.”

Voters are increasingly concerned with immigration, and it is expected to be a major driver in the 2024 elections. The Democratic administration has been heavily criticized by Republicans, who say its policies have only encouraged more migrants to enter illegally cross the US-Mexico border.

“To the American people, what the Biden administration is doing is illegal. It encourages illegal immigration,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. He said parole was the government’s “tool of choice” allowing too many people to enter the US

But the U.S. immigration system has been under increasing strain for years, with each presidential administration testing the limits of executive power, while Congress has all along refused to take action on immigration policy. The Biden administration’s approach — to crack down on illegal border crossings while opening new avenues for those who come by air with sponsors — is just the latest in a long line of efforts to take control of the country’s immigration system.

The authority used by the government is known as “parole,” because otherwise migrants would be placed in detention while their immigration cases were heard. Instead, they are “paroled” or allowed into the US. But the authority has nothing to do with the criminal law idea of ​​someone being released from prison on parole after serving a sentence following a conviction.

Under Biden, the US relied heavily on humanitarian paroles. The US has airlifted nearly 80,000 Afghans from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, to the US following the Taliban’s takeover. The US has admitted tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled after the Russian invasion.

In January 2023, the government announced a plan to admit 30,000 people per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, provided those migrants had a financial sponsor and flew to the US instead of the US-Mexico border to go. The US has created a mobile app that allows people to sign up online from wherever they are, instead of traveling to the US

Texas sued the government to end benefits, arguing in part that the plan was drawing too many people to the border. Republican senators are also taking aim at the program.

Senate Democrats and immigrant advocates say parole is a valuable tool that provides urgent relief to people fleeing the unrest and helps manage the border. Before the plan, migrants from those countries made up the vast majority of people entering the U.S. illegally. Afterwards, the number of arrests for these nationalities dropped dramatically.

“That’s a great model for the future that we’ve also seen reduce congestion at the border,” said Andrea Flores, who worked as a policy adviser in the Obama and Biden administrations and is now vice president at FWD.us, an immigration agency . interest group.

Over the years, parole has been used to provide a quick safe haven. Government officials are reluctant to cut off the ability to use this authority, not only now, but in the future.

“It’s really important to understand that it’s being used today as a way for the government to better manage the flow of individuals to the border in a planned way,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the leading Democrat in the House. Senate. negotiations.

Political journalist Marcelo Conde fled Nicaragua last year after receiving death threats for not supporting President Daniel Ortega. Conde feared that if he left Nicaragua legally, he would be detained and imprisoned when authorities saw his name on his passport.

“The parole became an opportunity, but also a divide because it was not approved quickly,” Conde, 34, said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Las Vegas. “I waited more than a hundred days,” he said.

After finally arriving in the US, he was granted a permit to work. In Nevada he waits tables. Conde speaks Spanish, French and English and hopes to work as a journalist in the US soon

Republican senators have refused to approve further aid to Ukraine or Israel without changes to U.S. border policy. Negotiations have been going on for weeks, but both sides say they are nearing an agreement and that the Senate could consider the legislation as early as next week.

In recent days, negotiators have discussed possible compromises, including caps on the number of migrants eligible for parole, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversations.

“Let’s find a way where we can get a clear definition and figure out how to solve this,” said Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the top Republican negotiator.

Lankford mentioned the online application for migrants seeking parole. “It’s a constant pull to the border, just to draw more people there,” he said.

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Salomon reported from Miami.