Comar admits little capacity with Venezuelans

According to a report by the US Congressional Research Service, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar) recognized that the country would not have the capacity to attend to the thousands of asylum requests it has received from Venezuelan migrants.

Through the report entitled “New Migration Policies for Venezuelan Migrants”, it was mentioned that Comar will do everything possible to receive migrants from the aforementioned South American country, despite funding limitations.

In total, according to the document, 8,685 Venezuelans have requested asylum from the Mexican authorities.

For its part, the US Congressional Service reported that on October 12 of this year, Mexico agreed to accept the expulsion of an unspecified number of Venezuelan migrants from the United States, “in exchange for the Department of Homeland Security of the United States make additional H-2B visas available for temporary non-agricultural workers.”

“Historically, most H-2B visas have been issued to Mexican citizens,” the US Congressional office said.

As reported, Venezuelan migrants expelled to Mexico will have three options, which are: apply for asylum in Mexico, accept voluntary return by air from Mexico to Venezuela, leave Mexico within 15 days, or be detained and deported by the authorities. Mexican authorities, he said.

New immigration policy

To address the current migration crisis, the administration of President Joe Biden implemented new policies to address the record levels of Venezuelans found at the US-Mexico border.

These policies would respond to Title 42, which was implemented by the US government during the Covid-19 pandemic with the aim of repatriating undocumented migrants to Mexico.

According to the US Congress, the approach features changes to border control practices and a new process to allow Venezuelans to apply for “immigration parole” and fly directly to the United States.