WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will unveil a new border strategy Thursday expanding a Trump-era policy that gives border agents the power to turn back migrants without considering their claims for asylum, while also allowing thousands of migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti to apply for entry into the U.S.
It appears the administration decided that turning back migrants from Cuba and Nicaragua — two countries that have either limited or refused to accept deportations of their nationals — along with Haitians was an essential tool to lower the number of people arriving at the border. The decision, crucially, comes as Democrats continue to be hammered by Republicans over border policy, and border cities such as El Paso struggle to handle the influx of migrants crossing in recent weeks.
Biden will make his first presidential visit to the U.S. border on Sunday in El Paso after resisting Republican calls to do so over the last two years, according to a White House official. He will then travel to Mexico City to meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the North America Leaders’ Summit from Monday to Tuesday.
