Biden govt to turn away Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians at US border

Taking a major step towards stopping Venezuelans from entering the United States, President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday announced that the Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans, who have been illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, will be immediately turned away by the authorities.

The administration will instead provide entry to 30,000 people from the four nations every month for a period of two years and will provide them with the eligibility to legally work in the US, as long as they have entered legally and have eligible sponsors and clear background checks.

The four nations are among the countries from where there has been a sharp increase in migrant border crossings with no easy procedure to send the migrants to their own countries.

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The announcement has come as a big change to immigration rules and the new change will stand even if a public health law, which permits US authorities to send back asylum seekers, is scrapped by the US Supreme Court.

Speaking about the new change in immigration rules, Biden on Thursday said that the country's immigration system is "broken" and added that the new plan would be "safe and humane" to decrease the crowd of immigrants at the US-Mexico border.

"It's safe and it's humane, and it works," said Biden in his address from the White House.

He added that previously comprehensive legislation was sent by him to Congress to overhaul "what has been a broken immigration system for a long time."

"But Congressional Republicans have refused to consider my comprehensive plan," he added, as he blamed "extreme Republicans" for the impasse.

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"We have a big agenda... but one important part of that agenda is strengthening our border between our nations," Biden stated.

Appealing people to legally apply for entering the US, he said, "Do not just show up at the border."

As per the new policy, 360,000 people will be able to enter the US lawfully from the four nations every year. However, currently, more people are attempting to cross the border from these countries, with numbers reaching 82,286 in only November.

(With inputs from agencies)