US and Mexico make deal to ease Venezuela migration
The US and Mexico have agreed to a plan that allows some Venezuelan migrants to enter the US – but those who arrive illegally will be sent back to Mexico.
It is hoped the deal will ease pressure at the US-Mexico border, where a steady flow of Venezuelans continues to arrive as they flee the crisis-hit nation.
Starting immediately, flights will be arranged for 24,000 migrants to arrive in the United States.
More than six million people have left Venezuela in the past five years.
The exodus is one of the largest migrations in the world, fuelled by violence, food, fuel and medicine shortages, and repression by the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
It has seen people desperate to improve their lives walking thousands of miles along dangerous routes to try to reach the US-Mexico border, where they then try to enter illegally or claim asylum.
Under the new deal, which is effective immediately, the 24,000 eligible Venezuelan migrants – a tiny fraction of those who have fled – will be allowed to access the US by air, and stay for up to two years.
They must still be in Venezuela, and not have made the trek to the US-Mexico border, the US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
They will also need to have a person or organization based in the US provide financial support and back up their claim to be part of the program.
Agencies