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US to set up migrant centers in Latin America, sources say

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is expected to announce Thursday the establishment of immigration processing centers in Latin America as part of efforts to reduce the number of migrant trips to the US-Mexico border, four people familiar with the plans told CBS News on Wednesday.

The brick-and-mortar processing centers will serve as regional hubs to screen immigrants and determine whether they qualify for the program to enter the U.S. legally, the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss the plan ahead of the official announcement.

The centers will be located at key choke-points in Latin America where many migrants transit on their way to the US southern border. US officials are in talks with countries such as Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala about setting up these centers within their borders, the sources said.

US consular officers will be sent to the center to interview the migrants to determine if they have a legal way to be there, as well as staff from host countries. White House and State Department representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the centers.

One purpose of the regional processing centers is to reduce and slow immigration to the US-Mexico border, where officials are preparing to end an epidemic-era policy known as Title 42 that has allowed them to quickly deport more than 2.7 million migrants without processing them. Asylum claim from March 2020.

Immigrants to Mexico

FILE — Men carry children on their shoulders as they walk with other migrants north in Tapachula, Mexico, on June 6, 2022.

Daniel Diaz/Photo Alliance via Getty Images

The processing centers are expected to be a component of a broader announcement Thursday about how the administration is preparing End of Title 42 The policy will expire on May 11, when the national COVID-19 public health emergency expires. Officials estimate internally that migrant arrivals at the southern border could range between 10,000 and 13,000 per day over the next month.

In fact, illegal border crossings have already increased in the lead up to the policy change, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, a senior U.S. official told CBS News. On Tuesday alone, the Border Patrol recorded 7,500 apprehensions of migrants, 40% more than the daily average for March, the official said.

To prevent illegal crossings after the end of Title 42, the Biden administration is working to finalize a rule that would disqualify immigrants from asylum if they enter the country illegally after failing to seek humanitarian protection in a third country en route to the United States.

Administration officials have argued that the policy, which is similar to Trump-era rules, will discourage illegal crossings and encourage migrants to apply for two initiatives unveiled in January: a sponsorship program that allows 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to fly. to the U.S. each month, and a phone app that asylum seekers in Mexico can use to request entry at ports of entry along the southern border.

The Biden administration also launched an initiative earlier this month to speed up initial asylum screening of immigrants when they are processed under regular immigration law, rather than Title 42. Patrol custody, a change from the longstanding practice of waiting until they are placed in long-term facilities.

Earlier this week, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would reassign about 480 employees to help the 1,000-member asylum officer corps conduct these “credible fear” interviews, which determine whether immigrants are deported or allowed asylum. Given, according to an insider. Notice obtained by CBS News.

The processing centers are part of a broader campaign by the Biden administration to enlist the help of Western Hemisphere countries to manage unauthorized immigration — a commitment that 20 countries made in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Security during the Summit of the Americas in June 2022. .

Earlier this month, the governments of the United States, Colombia and Panama announced a two-month campaign to crack down on migrant smuggling in the Darien Gap, a roadless and mountainous jungle through which tens of thousands of migrants have passed through on their way to the United States over the past year. -Mexico border.

As part of plans to end Title 42, US officials have considered reinstating the practice of holding some immigrant families with children in detention centers, a controversial policy that the Biden administration ended in 2021.

When asked whether the practice will be revived, the Secretary of Homeland Security said Alexander Mayorkas told CBS News during an interview last week that “no decision” had been made.

But Mayorkas noted that “prevention alone will not solve the immigration challenge.”

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Camilo Montoya-Galvez

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