The United States will open administrative “regional management centers” for migrants, initially in Colombia and Guatemala, to strengthen the fight against illegal immigration, a senior American official said Thursday.
This measure is part of a desire to “reduce illegal immigration and facilitate immigration (to the United States) that is safe, humane and orderly,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
These centers, managed with international partners, will make it possible to carry out initial checks and speed up the procedures for legal entry into the United States.
There are plans to open more eventually, according to the official.
Canada and Spain will be able to accept some of the people authorized for immigration, the same source said.
The United States also facilitates appointments for Mexicans from the center and north of the country who wish to emigrate.
At the same time, the United States will tighten the procedures for deporting migrants who have entered the United States illegally, while committing to accepting thousands of additional refugees from Latin and Central American countries.
The United States is also committed to continuing the program aimed at accepting up to 30,000 migrants each month from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Homeland Security counterpart Alejandro Mayorkas were to hold a joint press conference later Thursday on the matter.
The fight against illegal immigration is a priority for the Biden administration, which put an end to the construction of the wall that Donald Trump wanted on the border with Mexico.
But the arrivals of migrants continue without his having succeeded in reforming the immigration system, still stranded in the American Congress.