Spain agrees with U.S. to take in immigrants from Latin America… days before Sanchez’s visit to Biden
The government is in a phase of strengthening ties and contacts with the United States and Washington has confirmed this Friday that it will Spain will receive Latin American migrants, as Canada does, through legal channels. This news, moreover, is known only a few days before the President of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, visits his counterpart Joe Biden at the White House. The announcement is part of a series of measures taken by Washington to try to reduce the migratory flow to its border with Mexico as of May 11, when Title 42, an immigration rule that allows for hot removals, is suspended.
Just one day later, on May 12, Sanchez will be with Biden in a meeting that the government had been seeking for months. and which also coincides with the beginning of the electoral campaign for the regional and municipal elections of May 26. At the moment, from Moncloa they do not give details about the number of migrants that will be received. “There is still no forecast of people, we hope to be able to give more details in the coming weeks”, they explain from Moncloa to 20minutos.
In a statement, the Department of State and Homeland Security stressed that these measures will be implemented “in close coordination with regional partners, including the governments of Mexico, Canada, Spain, Colombia, and Guatemala.” Specifically, the U.S., Spain and Canada will receive migrants that will be sent from processing centers that Washington will create in countries in the region. such as Colombia and Guatemala to handle applications from people wishing to migrate.
In these centers, people will be able to access some legal avenues for migration such as obtaining refugee status.family reunification programs and work permits in the US. These facilities will be administered in conjunction with “international organizations” and there, screened migrants will be eligible for refugee programs and humanitarian family or work permits in the United States, Washington government officials said Thursday in a call with reporters.
In parallel, Canada and Spain have agreed to receive migrants referred from those centers. “U.S. is making legal avenues of migration more accessible from South and Central America as an alternative to prevent people from taking paths that are sometimes dangerous,” the official stressed. This announcement is part of the measures adopted by the U.S. in view of the lifting of Title 42 on May 11. That rule has allowed more than 2.5 million migrant removals since it went into effect in 2020 under the pretext of the pandemic during the term of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021).
It’s about taking advantage of the fact that international partners have physical headquarters in a number of countries where they do very, very important work
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Spain for its willingness in this matter and noted that “it’s about taking advantage of the fact that that the international partners have physical headquarters in a number of countries. where they are doing very, very important work, and being able to bring some of our own staff and experts to these centers so that people can come to them and explore whether they are eligible for one of a number of legal pathways to come to this country, whether it’s as a refugee, whether it’s for family reunification, whether it’s for a work pathway.”
“And that means that it’s much easier for people who are contemplating. to come and determine from their own countries if they have a legal avenue to do thatso it is making the legal avenues much more accessible,” he explained.
