MIAMI — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is visiting Miami on Monday, where he will meet with the local Haitian and Cuban communities as well as local and federal authorities.
The agency said the purpose of the visit is to talk about a recently announced parole process that allows up to 30,000 Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Haitians, and Cubans a month to enter the United States to live and work. Besides Cuban and Haitians in South Florida, he will also be meeting with Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who has previously asked Mayorkas for federal support as the county manages an influx of recently arrived migrants.
Mayorkas is also scheduled to meet the U.S. Coast Guard and Homeland Security Task Force-Southeast amid an increase in migrant landings from Cuba and Haiti in the Florida Keys that began during the holidays.
The parole program, announced on Jan. 5, allows people to apply from their home countries. They must have a U.S.-based financial sponsor, pass health and background checks and arrange their own air travel to be approved under the initiative. People will be given parole for up to two years and work authorizations. The initiative has been in place for Venezuelans since October.
Over 1,700 Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans have already come to the United States through the parole process since it was announced, a surprisingly quick application processing time for U.S. immigration authorities. Thousands of others have already been given the green light to travel.
Federal officials intend that the parole process will curb irregular immigration by offering new pathways for legally coming to the United States. In fiscal year 2022, Customs and Border Protection registered a significant increase of Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans compared to 2021, and an uptick in Haitians.
DHS said that preliminary January data pointed to a 97% decrease in the number of encounters with Haitians, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Cubans attempting to enter the U.S. through the U.S.-Mexico border without proper documentation compared to the previous month.
The U.S. is also making all those who have illegally crossed Mexico or Panama after certain cut-off dates ineligible to apply. Mexico has also agreed to take back 30,000 people a month from the four countries who attempt to cross the border into the U.S. without proper documentation.
Mayorkas has also publicly commented on the rise in migrant landings in South Florida, recently tweeting out that Haitians and Cubans who arrive in the United States by boat will not be eligible to apply for the parole process.
However, 20 Republican-led states are suing the department, Mayorkas, and immigration agencies over the parole program, claiming that it is an overreach of the agency’s power and goes beyond the scope of how immigration authorities are allowed under federal law to use paroles.
Havana-born Mayorkas is the first immigrant and Latino confirmed as the agency’s head. He came to Miami in August 2021 and met with the Cuban and Haitian communities. During the visit, he announced sanctions against Cuban officials following anti-government protests in July 2021.
But Haitian activists criticized Mayorkas after he said the Biden administration would not redesignate Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status — an immigration protection that allows people from countries in turmoil to live and work in the U.S. — following a devastating earthquake in southern Haiti that killed more than 2,000 people. Mayorkas had previously visited Miami in May of that year after the designation of TPS for Haiti.
