The US announces immigration program for Ecuadorians

USA announced this Wednesday the start of afamily reunification program aimed at nationals ofEcuador who have immediate family members with US citizenship or permanent residence in that country.

The measure notified through astatement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicates that under the guidelines of this new program, admitted Ecuadorians will be able to remain in the country for three years while they wait for the process to obtain their legal permanent residence in the United States.

"The government ofJoe Biden will allow eligible Ecuadorians to fly to the US and apply for temporary work permits if their relatives living there have sponsored them for an immigrant visa," the television network reported.CBS News.

Those who qualify must be outside of US territory, have an invitation from a family member who is a citizen or legal permanent resident of that nation and meet a series of requirements, including background checks and medical examinations, the statement added.

Requests will be made through the form I-130 Petition For Alien Relative, and the beneficiaries will not be able to travel to the United States until the process is approved and a visa is issued. This process can take approximately one year.

“The establishment of this process for certain Ecuadorian nationals will ensure that more families can access legal avenues instead of putting themselves at the mercy of smugglers to make the dangerous journey,” said the Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States,Alexander Mayorkas.

Likewise, he added that “the process of family reunification with parole promotes the unity of families in accordance with our laws and our values.”

Since January 2023, a similar program welcomes citizens of Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, in an attempt to control the migration crisis and regulate entry to the country through a humanitarian visa plan for asylum seekers. The initiative expanded the one implemented in October 2022 to stop the entry ofVenezuelans through border points with Mexico.

“Don't just show up at the border... Stay where you are and legally request [refuge] from there,” President Biden warned at the time.

The humanitarian parole grants the granting of 30,000 visas per month, which translates into an estimated 7,500 visas per month for each country selected to benefit from the program.

During the first six months of 2023, almost 160,000 travelers from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti arrived legally in the United States with parole procedures, according to DHS figures published byThe San Diego Union-Tribune.

Of that number, more than 38,000 are Cubans and of them, more than 35,000 had entered the United States on parole.

Despite all these measures,The migrant crisis worsens on the southern border of the United States, in a context of extreme deterioration in living conditions for the inhabitants of these countries.

In recent days, it emerged that theThe Mexican government asked Cuba and four other countries in the region to accept deportation flights for their nationals, as a way to alleviate a migration crisis that shows an incessant increase in the number of people arriving daily at the Mexican border with the United States.