Joe Biden will grant legal status to half a million Venezuelan asylum seekers

Karen Malave (left), an immigrant from Venezuela, and her daughters take shelter in a Chicago police station Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

Joe Biden will give nearly half a million Venezuelans seeking asylum the legal right to live in the United States as thousands arrive across the Mexican border daily.

The US government's Department of Homeland Security said it would grant «temporary protected status» to an estimated 470,000 Venezuelans who had arrived in the U.S. by July 31, fleeing political and economic instability in their home country.

Democratic mayors demanded that the White House do more to allow asylum seekers to work in the U.S. without having to rely on to help local authorities.

But Republicans say Mr Biden has been too relaxed about migration to the US. The southern U.S. border with Mexico, where thousands of crossings occur daily.

Such crossings are now at near-record levels, according to unpublished federal data obtained by CBS News, which showed Border Patrol agents apprehending about 6,900 migrants. per day in the first 20 days of September.

Figures show that migration to Texas and other Southern states has increased 60 percent since July, heightening political concerns about urban overcrowding and crime.

Republicans say Biden is too relaxed about migration on the U.S. southern border with Mexico. Photo: KEVIN LAMARCQUE/REUTERS

The total number of migrants arriving in the US this month will reach 210,000, just short of the record of 220,000 set in December 2022.

The change in the legal status of Venezuelans will mean that recent arrivals will be able to apply for work permits, and the temporary status already given to a quarter of a million people from the country will be extended.

The work permit expansion will not apply to migrants who entered the United States illegally to seek asylum and are required by law to wait six months to apply for a work permit.

Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security, granted approval for the expansion due to «increasing instability and insecurity in Venezuela due to persistent humanitarian, political and environmental conditions,» the department said.

Lack of resources

Democratic officials New York, Massachusetts and Chicago have complained about the strain newly arrived migrants are putting on their resources.

In New York, officials are required to provide housing to anyone who asks for it, including about 60,000 people. newly arrived migrants. These rules do not apply in other major U.S. cities.

At least 7.3 million people have fled Venezuela over the past decade amid a political, economic and humanitarian crisis that has put food and other essentials out of reach. residents of the country. majority.

The vast majority of those who fled settled in neighboring Latin American countries, but many traveled to the United States after crossing the Darien Gap, a dangerous stretch of jungle in Panama.

According to the latest data, only in August of this 80,000 people crossed the Darien Gap.