Biden Faces Competing Pressures as He Tries to Ease the Migrant Crisis
The situation provides ammunition to conservative Republicans who are vowing to shut down the government unless Congress agrees to harsh new anti-immigration measures.
The demand that President Biden ease the migrant crisis threatening to overwhelm American cities came privately, from the New York governor to top White House officials. It came publicly, in angry statements from Democratic and Republican officials around the country. It came from scores of immigrant rights groups.
On Wednesday, the Biden administration relented.
In one of the largest such actions ever taken, the Department of Homeland Security said that almost a half-million immigrants in the United States who had fled Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis would be allowed to immediately apply for work authorization. By allowing them to legally earn income, the change could alleviate the costly burden of housing the refugees in major cities across the country. The migrants also will be protected from deportation for at least the next 18 months.
The situation provides ammunition to conservative Republicans who are vowing to shut down the government unless Congress agrees to harsh new anti-immigration measures.
The demand that President Biden ease the migrant crisis threatening to overwhelm American cities came privately, from the New York governor to top White House officials. It came publicly, in angry statements from Democratic and Republican officials around the country. It came from scores of immigrant rights groups.
On Wednesday, the Biden administration relented.
In one of the largest such actions ever taken, the Department of Homeland Security said that almost a half-million immigrants in the United States who had fled Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis would be allowed to immediately apply for work authorization. By allowing them to legally earn income, the change could alleviate the costly burden of housing the refugees in major cities across the country. The migrants also will be protected from deportation for at least the next 18 months.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Biden faces competing pressures as he tries to ease the migrant crisis.
00:04 The situation provides ammunition to conservative Republicans who are vowing
00:10 to shut down the government unless Congress agrees to harsh new anti-immigration measures.
00:15 The demand that President Biden ease the migrant crisis threatening to overwhelm American cities
00:22 came privately, from the New York governor to top White House officials.
00:27 It came publicly, in angry statements from Democratic and Republican officials around
00:32 the country. It came from scores of immigrant rights groups. On Wednesday, the Biden administration
00:40 relented. In one of the largest such actions ever taken, the Department of Homeland Security said
00:47 that almost a half million immigrants in the United States who had fled Venezuela's humanitarian
00:53 crisis would be allowed to immediately apply for work authorization. By allowing them to legally
01:00 earn income, the change could alleviate the costly burden of housing the refugees in major cities
01:06 across the country. The migrants also will be protected from deportation for at least the next
01:12 18 months. Administration officials say the decision was made, as required by law, because
01:19 of the worsening conditions in Venezuela, not the situation in New York or other cities.
01:25 But for Mr. Biden, the move is sure to inflame the already charged political debate,
01:32 both inside his own party and with Republicans,
01:35 about how to confront the surge of migration from South and Central America.
01:39 The situation at the border, where officials on Monday arrested 8,000 migrants,
01:46 close to record highs in May, is providing ammunition to conservative Republicans who
01:51 are vowing to shut down the government unless Congress agrees to new anti-immigration measures.
01:57 They argue that protecting recent Venezuelan migrants from deportation will only encourage
02:03 more to head north, hoping for similar treatment after they arrive. Advocates for the policy say
02:10 Venezuelans and other migrants decide to flee because they fear persecution, starvation and
02:16 violence, not because of a policy change thousands of miles away in Washington.
02:21 Mr. Biden singled out Venezuelans for the program because of their sheer numbers;
02:27 they make up the largest mass migration in the hemisphere in decades.
02:31 But the dramatic move by Mr. Biden is evidence of the human dimensions and political power of
02:38 an issue that has hounded him since he became president.
02:41 How to deal with the border is at the heart of the funding debate in Congress,
02:47 and is certain to be central to the debate between Mr. Biden and his Republican opponent
02:52 in the 2024 campaign next year. "The president is terribly compromising this country,
02:58 has done irreparable harm to the country with the border invasion he has allowed,"
03:03 Rep. Bob Good, Republican of Virginia, said on CNN on Thursday.
03:08 The administration's decision to expand temporary protected status to an additional 472,000
03:16 Venezuelans in the United States is in line with previous moves by the administration to extend
03:23 protections to some migrants from other countries. But it comes more than a year after Mr. Biden,
03:29 rejected similar pleas from immigration, advocates to broaden its TPS program for the
03:35 Venezuelan migrants. What changed, say people who engaged in the concerted effort to convince the
03:42 administration to act, is the pressure campaign from members of the president's own party.
03:47 The images of migrants sleeping on the streets of New York City and Strong, concerning statements
03:54 from the Democratic mayor and other leaders highlighted the urgency for federal action,
03:59 said Krish Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
04:04 Eleanor Acer, the senior director for refugee protection at Human Rights First,
04:11 said that "it's made a tremendous difference that cities and states were also making clear
04:16 that these changes would help their communities." The TPS law has been used for decades to provide
04:23 limited legal status to people who have tried to escape natural disasters or political violence.
04:29 It is designed to be a temporary refuge, usually 18 months, for people who cannot be sent home
04:36 because the crisis there is ongoing. But presidents in both parties have regularly extended TPS for
04:44 certain groups, some of whom have remained in the United States for decades. As of March 31,
04:51 2023, there are 16 countries whose citizens have been given TPS designation, according to the
04:58 Congressional Research Service, Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti,
05:06 Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.
05:17 This redesignation and extension of Venezuela for TPS is based on extraordinary and temporary
05:23 conditions in Venezuela that prevent their nationals from returning in safety,
05:28 said Neri Katudat, and spokeswoman at the Department of Homeland Security.
05:32 DHS is doing everything in its power to get the migrants who are eligible working.
05:38 Critics of the program have argued that the designations were being ran.
05:43 10.