Washington Press Briefing: U.S. Migration Policy Overview in 2024

Washington Press Briefing: U.S. Migration Policy Overview in 2024

good afternoon everyone and welcome to
the Washington Foreign Press Center my
name is Leah kenoby and I’m the
moderator for today’s briefing today it
is my pleasure to introduce Marcel
escobari Special Assistant to the
president and coordinator for the Los
Angeles declaration at the National
Security Council Lewis Miranda principal
Deputy assistant secretary for
communications at the Department of
Homeland Security and Eric jacobstein
Deputy assistant secretary for Central
America Cuba and migration at the
Department of State they will provide an
overview of ongoing us efforts to
humanely manage migration at our
Southwest border as well as
collaboration with our partners in the
Western Hemisphere to address the root
causes of migration ahead of the
upcoming Los Angeles declaration for
migration and protection ministerial
hosted by
Guatemala a reminder that this
discussion is on the record and we will
post a transcript and video of The
Briefing on our website fpc.org
for the journalist joining us on Zoom
please take a moment now to rename
yourself in the chat window with your
name outlet and Country I would now like
to invite Miss escobari to begin with
her opening
remarks great thank you so much well
thank you for hosting us and giving us
the opportunity to provide an update on
our efforts to manage hemispheric
migration in a safe Humane and orderly
way two years ago at the summit of the
Americas President Biden joined 20 of
our partners from across the hemisphere
in launching a bold new initiative the
Los Angeles Declaration on migration and
protection under the premise that
together we can address this shared
challenge impacting the entire
region and our coordinated efforts could
be more than the sum of our parts and my
mission at the National Security Council
is to lead the US diplomatic efforts
under this regionally driven initiative
working side by side with our partners
to that end I am pleased to confirm that
the United States will be joining our
partners in Guatemala City on May 7th
for the Third Los Angeles declaration
ministerial as our high level
participation in the ministerial will
show President Biden remains fully
committed to this collaborative approach
which continues to drive action across
its three pillars first we are
addressing the root causes driving
people to leave their homes it was a
priority for President Biden when he was
vice president and it remains a priority
now the Biden Harris administration’s
root causes strategy for Central America
has helped people find opportunities in
their home communities just in the last
three years our assistance has helped
create over 250,000 jobs in the region
increased productivity and incomes for
more than 60,000 agricultural producers
it has generated more than 500 million
in new sales and helped keep in school
more than 465,000 primary and secondary
students well we know the causes driving
people to leave their homes are complex
we see this work is bearing fruit we saw
a 30% decrease in the number of central
Americans at the border from fiscal year
21 to fiscal year 23 and a double
digigit decrease in Guatemalan and
Honduran intentions to migrate when
compared to 2021 according to the lapop
survey conducted in 2023 and we are not
doing this alone we have United forces
with Mexico partnering with their
development agency mxed to support
atrisk populations in Central America
together secondly we are leading a
historic expansion of lawful migration
Pathways to the United States and other
countries while supporting the
regularization and integration of
migrants throughout the region
initiatives like the CH andv uniting for
Ukraine and temporary labor Pathways
allow people to migrate safely and
legally our work with the governments of
Guatemala El Salvador and Honduras have
helped nearly triple the number of
temporary work visas to over 28,000 in
2023 filling critical labor gaps here in
the United States and allowing migrants
to return to their families with new
skills and resources to invest in their
their
communities President Biden has also
rebuilt a refugee resettlement program
recognizing that it advances our
national security our economy and our
values as a nation of laws and
migrants through our safe mobility
offices launched with our partners in
Colombia Costa Rica Guatemala and
Ecuador nearly 20,000 individuals have
been approved to come to United States
legally and safely a six-fold increase
over the previous year we know lawful
migration strengthens our economy
refugees and asiles contributed almost
124 billion to our economy from 2005 to
2019 for a recent HHS study and again we
are not doing this alone our partners
recognize the benefits of lawful
migration and integration and have taken
important steps earlier this month
Colombia announced that it will offer
legal status to up to 350,000 additional
migrants since 2021 Colombia has
provided 10-year legal status to over 2
million mostly Venezuelan migrants these
integration efforts have the potential
to increase Colombia’s GDP by 4.5
percentage points by 2030 according to
the IMF Brazil’s operation welcome is
also an impressive Regional example of
efficient and smart migration management
Brazil has welcomed over 500,000
Venezuelans since 2018 and matched
migrants with labor needs all over the
country in a few days we are looking
forward to holding our first ever
bilateral migration dialogue with Brazil
to discuss expand their our
collaboration on
migration together these Collective
efforts are helping us meaningfully
improve lives modernize our approach to
irregular migration and reduce the need
for people to make the dangerous Journey
North while recognizing the significant
contributions of lawful Pathways lastly
we are working with our partners on
enforcement and Humane management of
borders across the region we have taken
additional steps to crack down on
Smugglers and traffickers including by
imposing visa restrictions on those
profiting off of vulnerable
migrants and we’re working closely with
our Mexican Partners who have increased
their enforcement efforts including on
Rails and highways last week on behalf
of the President White House Homeland
Security adviser Liz sherard Randall met
with President Lopez orador to further
strengthen our collaboration this was
our 10th trip to Mexico just in the last
year and a half our joint efforts have
contributed an almost 40% decrease in
Encounters of irregular migrants at our
Southwest border during the first three
months of this year compared to the same
to to the three months immediately
prior this is the spirit of the Los
Angeles declaration a shared belief that
together we can respond to the historic
challenges of immigration in a Humane
orderly and Safe Way that advances our
shared interest we look forward to a
productive ministerial on May 7th to
make further progress and we thank
wamala not only for hosting but for his
continued Regional leadership thank you
and I look forward to your
questions thank you thank you Marcela
and thank you to the team at The Forum
press Center for organizing and hosting
all of us here today as coordinator
escobari said President Biden remains
focused on our comprehensive long-term
engagement with Partners in the region
to address the hardships and challenges
that are being faced every day by
migrants and across governments the
challenges are significant but we’re
addressing them together within the
United States government and throughout
the region we’ve a shared commitment to
enhance enforcement and safe orderly
Humane migration and we want to make
sure that the work that we’re doing
continues to move us in that direction
so let me first discuss the
administration’s deep focus on our
partnership with
Guatemala our administ our
Administration has been working
intensively to strengthen bilateral
relations with the new government of
Guatemala we greatly appreciate the
efforts of the revo Administration not
only in terms of the democratic
transition and its robust
anti-corruption agenda but also
commitment to coordinate closely on our
shared challenges which include
irregular migration and we are
particularly grateful for their
leadership in hosting this next
ministerial of the Los Angeles
Declaration on March 18 18 State
Department under secretary Jose
Fernandez led the first ever us
Guatemala highlevel economic dialogue
which really demonstrated our commitment
to work with the Guatemalans to advance
inclusive economic growth and create
opportunities at home so that
Guatemalans are not forced to make the
dangerous Journey North and on March
25th president revelo met here in
Washington with both President Biden and
vice president Harris on the issue of
regular migration specifically vice
president Harris and president Rev
discussed the importance of providing
access to lawful Pathways increasing
cooperation on Border enforcement and US
support for Guatemala’s migration
management
efforts the vice president president
revelo agreed on the urgent need to
address the drivers of regular migration
from northern Central America and to
continue cooperation under the Biden
Harris administration’s root cause of
strategy to that end we’re particularly
proud that Central America forward which
is the public private partnership that
was launched by the Vice President in
May of 2021 now has mobilized more than
$5.2 billion in private sector
Investments for Northern Central America
and so we really look forward to bring
that same level commitment and
coordination with partner countries uh
throughout the region at the May 7th Los
Angeles declaration ministerial meeting
in Guatemala City and so we’re hopeful
that other partners throughout the
region throughout the world will
increase their support for Guatemala and
for the entire Northern Central American
region
in addressing the root causes of
migration um so in addition to uh our
root causes work uh and our support for
safe orderly Humane migration uh and
really to provide protection to refugees
and vulnerable migrants as cordinator
escobari mentioned uh we’re very proud
of our safe mobility offices uh
throughout the region which are
facilitating expedited Refugee
processing via the US Refugee admission
program and they also provide
information referrals
uh and such to humanitarian parole
family reunification and labor programs
so as of April 14th of this month more
than 170,000 individuals have applied
for the Smo initiative the safe mobility
office initiative applicants screening
counseling sessions are ongoing and
since the launch of these offices in
June of
2023 more than 28,000 individuals have
been referred to the US Refugee
admission program for potential
resettlement to the United States and
more than 16,000 individuals have been
screened for other lawful Pathways to
the United States more than
19,300 individuals have been approved to
come to the United States and more than
7500 have already arrived safely into
their new homes in the United States and
thousands of additional applicants are
in the final stage of processing and
will arrive in the coming
weeks we’re working with Partners in
Columbia and Costa Rica and Ecuador and
Guatemala where we’ stood up these
Innovative new safe mobility offices so
it’s important to note that individuals
seeking International protection and
other lawful Pathways into the United
States have many options including
Refugee resettlement humanitarian parole
family reunification labor Pathways and
seeking asylum in host countries as well
as various other Support Services
provided by International organizations
NGS taken together these initiatives are
the largest expansion of lawful Pathways
to the United States in decades but our
message is clear take advantage of these
lawful Pathways rather than make the
dangerous Journey North and so we
continue to robustly enforce our
immigration laws and there serious
consequences including removal for those
who do do not use lawful Pathways and do
not have a legal pa uh basis to remain
and in the enforcement space let me just
say that we are sharpening our focus on
Charter companies some of whom in
cooperation with Nicaragua’s Ortega
Maria regime have offered flights to
managa and charge extortion level prices
that put migrants onto a dangerous
Overland Path North to the US border and
while these migrants predominantly come
from the Caribbean others come from
Africa Asia and elsewhere and we’re
seeing those increased numbers in recent
months so in response to this disturbing
trend on March 4th secretary blinkin
took steps to impose visa restrictions
on air charter company Executives for
facilitating a regular migration into
the United States States and these visa
restrictions this policy uh put forward
by the secretary was later expanded to
Target owners Executives and Senior
officials of companies providing Charter
transportation and transportation by
land and sea designed for use primarily
by persons intending to migrate or
regular to the United States our feeling
is no one should profit from vulnerable
migrants not Smugglers private companies
public officials or governments like the
Orga Maria regime so we’ll continue
engaging with governments and we’ll
continue to impose visa restrictions as
needed to crack down on this practice so
thank you again for the opportunity to
join today’s briefing and I’ll now turn
to Lewis for some comments from
DHS thank you very much uh thank you
Eric thank you Marcela and Leah and
everybody at the Foreign Press Center
but also all of you for for being here
today the uh ability to communicate and
discern fact uh from myth is so
important and and um we need you to be
able to do that um the spirit of
collaboration outlined by my colleagues
is a vital aspect of our efforts under
secretary mayorcas at the Department of
Homeland Security uh to enhance border
security and manage irregular migration
as Marcela said in a safe orderly and
humane way um the world is seeing
historic levels of displacement and
migration for a variety of reasons but
our work with counterparts throughout
this hemisphere around the world is
having positive results uh including the
restrictions um that uh D jacobine was
just talking about um for those
intending to migrate to our Southwest
border the strength of the American
economy does remain a factor uh so in
addition to this collaboration that
we’re talking about uh it is a focus of
our efforts to communicate with
audiences throughout the region and
around the world uh to really level set
on the reality of what US immigration
laws do and uh how we’re uh enforcing
them so under us law our borders are not
open to irregular or illegal migration
uh there are consequences for
individuals who cross irregularly or
illegally even if they intend to turn
themselves into Border
Patrol Those consequences include
removal of individuals who don’t have a
legal basis to remain including
expedited removal a five-year bar on
re-entry and prosecution for recidivism
uh it’s also important uh to note um
that this Administration has leveraged
an expansion of lawful Pathways uh along
with the the strength and consequences
that we’re imposing for those who fail
to use lawful Pathways and orderly
processes so since May 12th of last year
at the end of the uh Public Health order
under title 42 uh we have been imposing
the circumvention of lawful Pathways
rule over the last year which presumes
that those who fail to use those lawful
pathways are ineligible for Asylum with
some exceptions uh by the numbers from
May 12th through April 17th we’ve
removed or returned over 690,000
individuals the vast majority of whom
crossed the Southwest border including
more than 105,000 individual family
members uh that’s important because one
of the pieces of misinformation we see
Smugglers used es to convince people
that that uh maybe if they arrive as a
family that they won’t be deported so
it’s important for people to understand
the realities of how consequences are
imposed
um that also includes removals to 170
countries across the world and uh over
the last three years and this is a
really significant statistic the
majority of individuals encountered at
the Southwest border have been removed
returned or expelled uh in fact total
removals and returns since miday exceed
removal and returns in every full fiscal
year since 2011 so uh in the last 10
months or so we’ve uh conducted more
removals and returns uh than in every
full fiscal year since 2011 uh of course
many people believe the misinformation
that they see on social media uh telling
them that they can quickly cross and
turn themselves in so we continue to
emphasize that uh the use of expedited
removal for those without illegal basis
to stay is a possibility um also to make
sure that people understand that
Crossing illegally does not make them
eligible for a work permit and that even
for those who claim Asylum they have to
wait a minimum of 150 days before even
applying for a work permit and at least
another 30 days before they could
receive one um our expansion of lawful
Pathways and orderly processes
consistent with the spirit of the LA
declaration does provide better options
those Pathways and processes have
prevented nearly 1 million individuals
from attempting illegal migration uh
between ports of Entry through the end
of March 2024 over 404,000 Cubans
Haitians nicaraguans and Venezuelans
have been able to arrive lawfully under
the parole processes that we established
in October of 20122 for Venezuelans and
subsequently last January 5th for uh
Cubans Haitians and
nicaraguans additionally since the
appointment scheduling function in cbp1
was introduced in January of
2023 uh through the end of March more
than 547 th000 individuals have
successfully scheduled appointments to
present at ports of Entry using cbp1
again that’s near 1 million people who
have chosen to follow a lawful pathway
or an orderly process instead of risking
their lives and Savings in the hands of
Smugglers um while we recognize that
significant challenges do Remain the DHS
Workforce our Frontline officers and
agents at US Customs in Border
Protection on the Southwest border uh
the rest of the DHS Personnel that
support them um they’re on the job and
and we’re going to continue to enforce
US immigration law uh encounters that
are southern border are lower now than
they have been in Prior months uh but we
do remain prepared continually managing
operations to respond to shifting
patterns as necessary and we’re going to
continue to call on Congress to provide
the tools and funding necessary to
continue to strengthen our border
security uh but again the fact remains
the US is enforcing immigration law and
our borders are not open without for
those without a legal basis uh to enter
the country and with that we all turn it
back over to you thank you I we’ll now
take questions for those of you in the
room please raise your hand wait to be
called on and please also State your
name and media outlet and uh please
speak up so we can hear you and for
those of us on for those of us joining
on Zoom please be sure your screen name
includes your name outlet and Country
click on the raised hand icon to
indicate you have a question and we’ll
start in the room
first okay we’ll start uh Jose Louise
think from um in in Central American
Civil Society there’s a wpre uh
perception that the United States
prioritizes their migration policies
over the human rights practices in the
region I want your opinion on the impact
that what the recent uh report on human
rights in Central America can have
immigration uh coming from the
region great thank you for that question
Jose Lis um I would say under the root
cause this strategy we’re focused on
Multi factors uh including governance
and we feel governance is the core of
much of what we do in this in the region
because without good governance it’s
hard to have economic prosperity it’s
hard to have security uh so we feel like
migration management is certainly a
priority uh but governance and human
rights are also a priority and you have
to look no further than the United
States efforts to support the democratic
transition in Guatemala to see an
example where we’re prioritizing
governance in a big Major Way in terms
of the human rights report itself uh I
would just say uh overall the human
rights report rep which was released
this week uh it captures facts about the
observance of and respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms uh the
human rights report it does not contain
analysis it makes no judgments it makes
no statements or determinations as a
matter of domestic and international law
but it provides information uh that’s
often used by our Congress by the
executive branch and by immigration
adjudicators and making policies and
decisions where accurate information on
human rights conditions is critical so
the human rights piece is critical so is
governance and so’s migration Management
in a big way uh with everything that
Marcel laid out in terms of the
president’s priorities uh for this
upcoming
meeting okay Alex thank you so much from
news agency thanks so much for being
here and for the introduction uh those
numbers are incredibly helpful I was
hoping to get some sort of like progress
report about Regional processing centers
that were last year this time announced
by both SEC and my in the briefing room
um how many of them are current
operating way exactly the numbers that
you guys provided how many know cases
have been approved have they been
approved by the US officers or
International partners that back then us
announced sounds like like so por of the
job is being outsourced if that’s the
case just want understand you know who
is exactly leading this process and
finally on this information campaign not
only in the hemisphere but my part of
cover Eastern Europe um you can see you
know adversaries like Russia are you
know pushing this sou border open for
everyone so how much is this
contributing to the problem scope of the
problem thanks so
much yeah so in terms of safe mobility
offices I think the numbers uh paint a
clear picture of the success uh this has
been more successful than imagined uh
this is uh a process that’s done in
close cooperation with uh International
organizations with unhcr with the
International Organization for migration
uh so uh as I noted before um since June
of 2023 since the launch of this
initiative uh which is now known as the
safe mobility uh office initiative uh
more than
28,500 individuals have been referred to
the US Refugee admin uh admission uh
processing program uh and more than
19,300 individuals have been approved to
come to the United States and we have
more than 7 7,500 individuals already
arrived so this is a close partnership
with governments in the region with
ational organizations and the the
message out of this to us is clear the
message is take advantage of these
lawful Pathways uh rather than making
their regular Journey North let me
reinforce this uh um the numbers that as
Jacobson just raised which the Moses are
part of a whole ecosystem to really
advance and
increase um the number of legal Pathways
to the US and to other countries so the
work for example that uh that we have
helped in in collaboration with Honduras
Guatemala and El Salvador has expanded
the availability of H2 visas legal
Pathways from like 5,000 to 28,000 in
the last few years and reduce the um the
processing time and again our our our
studies and a recent study that that
just came out showed that the
availability of these uh of these legal
Pathways which the mes um are are are an
are an engine to to to help provide
access to have um have reduced by a
third in communities where these legal
pathways are available people migrate at
a third of the rate that in communities
that don’t have them so we see this
expansion to be um not only uh the uh a
better way to migrate but also um
reducing uh the numbers of of irregular
migration and if I could just clarify
one point that you in your question you
said that it seems like it’s being
outsourced uh there is nothing
outsourced about the screening and
vetting that we conduct on anyone coming
to the United States up to an including
on their arrival so I think that that’s
important that we do have a multi-layer
screening and vetting and if we detect
Public Safety or national security
threats um obviously we we screen for
those so that nothing of that nature is
outsourced sure I would just say that uh
we’re absolutely concerned about
disinformation regarding migration and I
would just say our message is Count On
official sources you you asked about the
safe mobility offices I would encourage
individuals to go to M.S agora.org to
find out information about where to go
this is a process that you can actually
do the bulk of this process can be
carried out online so rely on official
sources of information uh rather than
the information that’s being circulated
by Smugglers and others because there
are consequences for those who come
regularly and don’t take advantage of
lawful Pathways oh
just to add that’s part of the spirit of
the LA declaration and our work together
with over 20 countries in the region so
that people can have the official
information uh that is coordinated among
all of us in terms of expanding legal
Pathways as well as our um our rules and
and
regulations go
ahead I remember DHS was calling for a
bipartisan approach uh to deal with the
situation the borders so do you really
think that Democrats and
Republicans um can have any agreement on
this issue well there was an agreement
EXC let me turn that on uh there was an
agreement uh in the Senate that was
bipartisan in nature and that would have
provided significant tools and resources
we continue to call on Congress to pass
that um I’m not a prognosticator of what
can move through Capitol Hill but it is
something that we continue to urge
Congress to do
that are existing migrants at the
Southwest border uh we’re providing
communities inside the United States uh
significant resources we’ve provided
over a billion dollars in the past two
years we also just recently announced um
another round of funding through what we
call the shelter and services program
and that goes to nonprofit
organizations uh cities others that are
providing immediate services to migrants
um temporary uh services is just to help
them move along but it’s not um uh it is
not something that uh is reaches
necessarily the levels that we need
which is why we want to continue to
emphasize that if Congress does pass
that Senate Bill uh it does contribute
significantly to our ability to help
those
communities okay
Maria ntn24 so our recent po by Mega
analysis shows that 40% of the people in
Venezuela are considering leaving the
country if Nicolas m wins the elections
on July we would like to know if you
have any information with regards to
these and if the US is prepared to
receive more Venezuela even more
Venezuelans after
July thanks for your question uh I would
just say that the US supports the
Venezuelan people’s uh desire for free
and fair elections that represent their
will and peacefully restor democracy so
from our perspective uh full
implementation of the Barbados agreement
really offers the best path here to
restore the Democracy that Venezuelans
deserve improve economic and
humanitarian conditions and ultimately
address the migration crisis that you
referenced uh so due to Maduro and his
Representatives failure to fully follow
through on their commitments under the
Electoral roadmap uh agreement which was
signed in Barbados as you know in
October of
2023 uh the treasury Department
announced that it will not renew General
license 44 uh which authorizes trans
actions related to oil and gas sector
operations so to us full implementation
of Barbados agreement is really critical
uh especially in getting at the
migration issues you noted and just to
say that we are aligned with our
partners not only throughout the region
but throughout the world in in calling
for competitive inclusive elections in
Venezuela Venezuela’s after July like
the Paul
say uh we’re not making any
prognostications at this point that we
would communicate publicly what we are
doing is enforcing US immigration law
and uh encouraging people to leverage
lawful Pathways because um whether it’s
crossing the Daran or putting their
lives in the hands of criminal smuggling
networks I think it’s important for
people to understand that uh south of
the US border the illegal trafficking
routes are controlled by uh cartels that
uh we see significant incidence of
extortion kidnapping abuse um
territorial friction between different
groups that results in injury or death
to migrants so it really is not the way
to go and that’s why we continue to urge
people to really look at these lawful
Pathways um we’ve had success with those
we talked about the
Venezuelans um more than 102,000 have
been vetted and approved for travel
through the CH andv parole processes
more than 95,000 of those have already
arrived um that’s a significant uh
significantly better option than trying
to cross
illegally okay we’re going to turn to a
couple questions on Zoom um John Ford
with the Tribune if you could unmute
yourself and ask your question
please okay hi thank you for doing this
I understand that Overland illegal
migration makes the headlines but I
wonder if you could compare Overland and
Maritime migration numbers and assess
the relative threat to US National
Security
well what I can say is that uh Maritime
migration remains low obviously we
continue to monitor um for any changes
consistently but we do have uh
significant assets through our homeland
security task force Southeast that
includes the Coast Guard uh border
patrol uh and and other law enforcement
Partners working uh consistently to
monitor the Florida Straits um and and
uh really conduct a lot of rescues but
also repatriations when we do interdict
people that see uh we do repatriate
them okay thank you um next we’ll go to
Jose Diaz with reforma could you please
unmute yourself and turn on your video
if possible to ask your
question yes ER
I my question is for Mr Miranda I I have
asked this question six times and DHS
never got came comes back with an answer
so I hope you can reply to it how many
na Nationals of Haiti Cuba Venezuela and
Nicaragua has DH deported to Mexico
since the end of titled 42 in May of
2023 uh thanks for the question Jose um
more than 311,000 people have been
removed or returned to Mexico since May
12th um that includes Cubans Haitians
nicaraguans and Venezuelans uh I don’t
have the breakout but I think two
important points uh are part of that one
is that Mexico does take back as many as
30,000 they announced that uh that
determination last year and separately I
think it’s also worth noting that in the
months immediately after we instituted
the parole processes first for
Venezuelans in October of 2022 and then
in January for the other three
populations we saw significant drops of
upwards of 95 98% of those populations
trying to cross um so that also plays
into uh the need or lack of need during
several months um for for those those
kinds of returns thanks to that so uh it
is something that uh we consider as an
important part of these programs
functioning is that we do have the
ability to both uh extend that lawful
pathway but also uh apply consequences
for those who don’t follow them thank
you thanks we’ll go back to the room now
do you have a question go ahead would
like to compliment because I hearing the
presentation wonderful thank you very
much for your leadership
service America is a land of
immigrants and land of equal
opportunity it’s a unique example in the
world I would like to ask you that how
you see the future of immigrants in
America because we have seen different
voices we have heard different voices
and one voice was bothering to me ban
Muslims it was the a voice which I never
like to hear
because America respect and accept the
diversity and uh definitely this
question is different because you are
talking about the regions and everything
but I love America I want to see that
how America should be better understand
outside America sorry could you
introduce yourself in your outlet before
they
answer anyone can specifically to miss
Mar you know but could you introduce
yourself and your
Outlet uh yes uh I’m sorry I have a
heart up hearing you know because old
guys you know my name is uh Zar kazmi I
represent discover Pakistan basically
it’s a tourism Channel you know and
tourism when we talk about the tourism
we talk about the immigration as well
you know it’s related to everything you
know so thank you very much for
accepting my compliment question
you no thank you and I can totally
relate to your comment I am an immigrant
I love America and this is why I’m
serving our president um and I
absolutely believe that uh um that uh
that we can have orderly safe um
migration and and uh and and provide uh
avenues for people to come here
regularly it’s good for us and it’s good
for them and what is amazing and I think
different about what this president has
done H through the LA declaration and
the event that we’re going is that it
has worked with the region to do this so
that what is a a a human tragedy of 10
million people that has been displaced
in the region mostly in autocracies can
be absorbed can have the capacity to
settle and Thrive where they are and
migrate uh
legally and we have time for just one or
two more more question Jon go
ahead from ntn24 thank you for being
with us I would like to know if any of
you can confirm this earlier report that
says that the White House is considering
ways to provide a path legal to status
and work permits to immigrants that are
in the US illegally but are married to
American citizens um this is a benefit
called paroling place that could be
extended for 1.1 million of persons
living in the United
States we can take back that question I
think right now the president as
somebody asked is really focused on
urging Congress to pass the Senate
bipartisan border security agreement
that is what will provide resources to
secure our border and to make the
immigration system fairer and
faster benefit from DH
we have nothing to announce today I
think it’s really important for people
to understand that we continue to
enforce US immigration laws uh whatever
proposals or considerations are made uh
or or decided uh would have to be
announced or formalized before any kind
of public discussion there’s there’s
nothing that I could say at this
point go ahead
Edward from news um according to a new
Aus B published today half of American
Support mass deportations of under
commun immigrants um do you have any
comment on that what why do you think uh
that many people think this way and and
are you worried by the by the an
[Music]
immigration I think what we’re focused
on as I just mentioned is in in in what
we can do and the affirmative position
of the president and I think uh that
this bipartisan uh border security bill
would make a huge difference in securing
a border and again have a fairer and
better um immigration system and um and
I think
uh that would be a lot more effective
and Humane um than
Alternatives okay uh thank you this
concludes our briefing I want to give a
special thanks to our briefers for
sharing their time with us today and to
those of you who joined us thank you

Join us for an insightful briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center as experts provide an overview of the U.S. Migration Policy in 2024. Stay informed on the latest updates, trends, and key information shaping migration policies in the United States. Don’t miss out on this important discussion!

Defense Now April – 2024

Washington Foreign Press Center Briefing on U.S. Migration Policy Overview
UNITED STATES
04.25.2024

Film Credits: U.S. Department of State