Good morning. Thank you, Secretary Blinken. As the Secretary described, this is a hemispheric challenge that demands hemispheric solutions. Working with our neighbors in the region, we can and will reduce the number of migrants who reach our southern border. The Regional Processing Centers announced today will be a critical addition to the programs and processes DHS has in place for qualifying individuals to obtain authorization to enter the United States before arriving at our borders.
This is particularly important because we have a humanitarian obligation to cut the smugglers out. We have seen a dramatic rise in the reach, sophistication, and cruelty of the smuggling organizations over the past ten years and the challenges that presents.
The comprehensive plan we have developed and are executing takes this reality into account. We are building lawful pathways for people to come to the United States without resorting to the smugglers. At the same time, we are imposing consequences on those who do not use those pathways and instead irregularly migrate to our southern border.
This plan has proven effective. Building on the success of Uniting for Ukraine, we created parole processes for qualifying Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, and we expelled individuals from these countries who sought to enter at our southern border. We have seen a high degree of interest in these parole processes and a dramatic drop in encounters from these nationalities. Overall, the number of Border Patrol encounters in March 2023 was down 23 percent compared to March of last year. When people have safe and orderly pathways to come to the United States and face consequences for failing to do so, they use those pathways.
After May 11th, our court-compelled use of Title 42 will end and we will once again process all migrants under Title 8 of the United States code. This is a longstanding immigration enforcement authority that multiple administrations - Republican and Democratic alike - have used to process individuals. It carries stiff consequences for irregular migration, including at least a five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution for repeated attempts to cross unlawfully. The return to processing migrants under Title 8 authorities will be swift and immediate.
We have been preparing for this transition for more than a year and a half. Notwithstanding those preparations, we do expect that encounters at our southern border will increasing, as smugglers are seeking to take advantage of this change and already are hard at work spreading disinformation that the border will be open after that. High encounters will place a strain on our entire system, including our dedicated and heroic workforce and our communities.
The smuggler’s propaganda is false. Let me be clear: Our border is not open and will not be open after May 11th.
Today, we are announcing the expansion of our plan to build lawful pathways and to impose consequences for failure to use those pathways.
First, the Department of Homeland Security is proud to work with the State Department in establishing the Regional Processing Centers that Secretary Blinken described. We are dedicating specially trained refugee officers to the centers. They will interview applicants for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and provide for the swift processing of a greater number of individuals. In addition to refugee processing, migrants may be screened at these centers and referred to pursue additional pathways to the United States or to other countries for which they may be eligible.
Second, we are streamlining the long-established family reunification parole processes for Cubans and Haitians so that individuals from these countries with approved family-based petitions can more quickly reunite with their families here in the United States.
Third, I have directed my team to develop family reunification processes that will extend this well-recognized model to certain individuals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia. More information about these processes will be available by May 11th.
Fourth, we will continue the successful processes we announced in January. Through our CPB One mobile app, we will enable individuals to schedule more appointments at ports of entry, consistent with Title 8 processing. The Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela parole processes, as well as the corresponding returns to Mexico for those without a legal basis to remain will continue.
At the same time, we are imposing consequences for individuals who do not use our lawful pathways.
Beginning on May 12th, we will be - we will place eligible individuals who arrive at our southern border in expedited removal proceedings. Those who arrive at our border and do not have a legal basis to stay will have made the journey, often having suffered horrific trauma and having paid their life savings to the smugglers, only to be quickly removed. They will be removed most often in a matter of days in just a few weeks.
Unlike the Title 42 public health authority, the penalty for being removed from the United States under Title 8 through expedited removal and other immigration laws we will be enforcing is not just removal. An individual who is removed is subject to at least a five-year ban on admission to the United States and can face criminal prosecution for any subsequent attempt to cross the border illegally.
We will process eligible single adults for expedited removal while they are in our Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be conducting any credible fear interviews. We have expanded our holding capacity and set up equipment and procedures so that individuals have the ability to access counsel. We have digitized processes, surged personnel, and with the cooperation of partner governments increased return flights. We are ensuring that removals are accomplished fairly, efficiently, and quickly.
Families have always presented unique challenges within our immigration system, particularly for an administration like ours that priorities family unity and opposes family separation. Like single adults, families will be placed in removal proceedings, including expedited removal. We are currently focused on utilizing the full spectrum of our Alternatives to Detention Programs, including GPS monitoring and enhanced supervision, such as curfews and expanding case management services. This will be coupled with more stringent measures for those who do not comply.
The same principle will apply to single adults and families. They will have an opportunity to seek protection or other relief from removal. If they receive a final order of removal, we will enforce the law, and they will be removed.
In addition to our land border, we will continue to confront the challenge of migration on our seas.
Since we announced our parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, we have made it clear that those who arrive at our southern border are not eligible for the parole processes. We are announcing today that that ineligibility will now extend to individuals who take to the seas and are interdicted trying to arrive at our maritime borders. We have seen too many people - families, women, children - perish in the rough seas.
We have increased the presence of our United States Coast Guard to interdict migrants trying to reach the United States by sea. We have saved countless lives, and we have returned the migrants to their home countries. That will continue.
In addition, we are finalizing the regulation that the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security jointly proposed earlier this year. That proposed regulation will incentivize individuals to avail themselves of lawful, safe, and orderly pathways, and disincentivize dangerous border crossings by placing a new condition on asylum eligibility for those who fail to use those pathways. The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security aim to have the rule finalized by May 11 and will swiftly implement it.
The work we have been performing to prepare for post Title 42 continues, as I have previously outlined in our six-pillar plan. We are surging resources to our border, modernizing processes, attacking the smuggling organizations with unprecedented law enforcement focus, strengthening our immigration enforcement tool of expedited removal, working to increase information sharing and resources - having distributed over $130 million this fiscal year with 290 more to be awarded in the coming weeks - for local communities and their non-profit organizations. We are partnering with nations in the region to address the challenges of unprecedented migration throughout the hemisphere.
For example, two weeks ago we reached a trilateral agreement with Colombia and Panama to attack the smugglers who falsely coax people into the treacherous terrain of the Darien. We initiated a 60-day coordinated campaign with Panama and Colombia to prevent the incredibly dangerous humanitarian situation of migrants traversing the Darien jungle. We have made more than 10,000 smuggling arrests since April of last year and seized more than $47 million in smugglers’ illegal property and finances. The Canadian commitment to accept an additional 15,000 migrants was part of a complementary effort to create lawful pathways.
Everyone agrees - everyone agrees - our immigration system is outdated and badly broken. We must tackle the challenges before us together. This includes the potential for increases in migration after May 11 and the strain it will place on our communities, our workforce, and our system.
That’s why today we notified Congress of our intent to reprogram funds within our budget to support other emerging requirements across DHS. This reprograming of existing funds will not meet our longer term needs for securing our border and enforcing our laws. The administration requested $4.9 billion for these requirements but received only $2.7 billion in the funding bill passed this December. While the department is prudently utilizing the limited funding Congress has provided to prepare for the post-Title 42 environment, this notification of repurposing existing funds is only a fraction of what we will ultimately need.
We know smugglers will seek to take advantage of the end of Title 42 and that the first few weeks will be challenging, but I have full confidence in the dedicated men and women of DHS. We will do all we can to manage our border and increased encounters in a safe, orderly, and humane way. We are working with our regional partners. We are going after the smugglers. We are surging resources to the border. But we cannot do everything that we need to do until Congress provides the needed resources and reforms. We call on Congress to provide the resources we need to continue our work. We stand ready to work with Congress to pass desperately needed reform to our immigration and asylum system. In the meantime, we will continue to do our part, implementing the approach we have described here today.
Thank you.
Source: Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate