Mexico City, Mexico — In a joint statement between External Relations and the INM, Mexico says it welcomes the announcement of new actions by the US for orderly and humane migration.
Mexico recognizes that, based on the positive results of both the Uniting for Ukraine program and the new system of humanitarian permits for Venezuelans, as of today, the United States Government will expand the new route of entry into the US labor market for up to 360,000 nationals per year from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The humanitarian permit model implemented by the United States for people from Venezuela has opened up a new method of orderly, safe, and regular entry into that country, while at the same time, it has significantly reduced irregular migratory flows in the region by up to 94 percent.
The access of migrants to said country must be carried out exclusively by air and not through the land border with Mexico.
Based on the objective of expanding labor mobility mechanisms in the Americas, recognized in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, the United States has responded positively to Mexico’s requests to expand labor and humanitarian mobility mechanisms in the region.
The humanitarian permit program for people from Venezuela, implemented in October 2022, shows positive results both in the creation of a new pathway for admission to the US labor market and in the reduction of irregular migratory flows in the region.
As of today, the United States will process access for up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua or Venezuela per month. This would represent a total of 360,000 during 2023, the largest expansion in labor mobility in contemporary US history.
Additionally, Mexico and the United States will expand their resettlement policies for refugees, in recognition of the importance of access to asylum in both countries and in the region.
According to the information provided by the United States Government, migrants who follow the instructions of the program and do not appear at the land border between Mexico and the United States, will be able to enter that country by air and formally access its labor market.
People of the aforementioned nationalities who do not meet the requirements or who do not follow the indications of the new program will be subject to Title 42 as has happened up to now with people of Venezuelan nationality.
The expansion of the new measures prevents such persons from coming into contact with criminal organizations and, in contrast, from being able to enter the United States in an orderly, safe, regular, and humane manner.
The Government of Mexico will strengthen dialogue and collaboration with international organizations from the humanitarian action group established in October 2022.
The main purpose is to coordinate and increase protection measures for migrants and refugees who are in national territory from a human rights perspective. Likewise, the Mexican authorities will periodically evaluate the development of the new program with the United States Government in order to improve its results and assess its continuity.
In December, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) referred to Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, as “inhumane and anti-Christian” for mobilizing migrants aboard trucks during the Christmas season.
