Biden will let some Venezuelans come to U.S. cities like Philly under a limited program to ease border pressures

The Venezuelan community in Philadelphia is small, officially estimated at 1,500 people. Now that may change.

The Biden administration has announced a humanitarian program to grant Venezuelans legal entry to the United States, similar to the “Uniting for Ukraine” effort that’s offered haven to up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war in their homeland.

But this new program is much more narrow, limited to 24,000 Venezuelans. And it’s accompanied by an expanded use of a public-health rule, known as Title 42, that enables the government to expel and send to Mexico those who improperly cross the border.

Millions of Venezuelans have left their country in recent years to escape natural disasters, crime, poverty, and political instability, and more than 150,000 were stopped at the U.S. southern border between October 2021 and the end of August 2022.

The new program, like the one for Ukraine, would require family members or sponsors in the United States to host arrivals — and require them to provide financial support to the newcomers. Uniting for Ukraine effectively ended Ukrainian crossings at the U.S. southern border by offering a defined, legal means for people to enter the country.

“It’s better than nothing, but we — the coalition of Venezuelan diaspora groups — we’re not 100% happy about it,” said Emilio Buitrago, a cofounder of Casa de Venezuela, a Philadelphia organization that’s become a refuge for Venezuelans seeking relief from political and economic crises. “It’s a way to legally and lawfully bring Venezuelans to the U.S. We appreciate the effort, we welcome the decision, and we’re going to get more details on how this is going to work.”

He and others met with Department of Homeland Security officials Thursday morning, and the first question was “Why only 24,000 people?” The answer was that the figure was a start. Other questions dealt with the “very disturbing” use of Title 42 to facilitate expulsions, he said.

More than 1.8 million Title 42 expulsions have been carried out since the pandemic began. Nearly half were of the same people being apprehended and sent to Mexico multiple times, according to the American Immigration Council.

Immigration advocates had expected the new program to welcome a larger number of Venezuelans into a United States that continues to struggle with labor shortages.

Venezuelan immigrants tend to be highly educated. About 65% of those 25 and older have at least a bachelor’s degree, according to the Pew Research Center, compared with 38% of the overall U.S. population.

“That 24,000 seems like a really low number, a shockingly low number,” said Jose Benavides, a former vice president of Casa de Venezuela who now serves on the group’s advisory board and who hopes the figure is merely a start. “I feel encouraged that the administration is acknowledging the problem. I don’t think this is going to fix the problem. We are waiting to hear more details about it.”

The plan intends that Venezuelans who qualify would enter the country at U.S. airports, like the program that allows Ukrainians to stay here for up to two years. One intention is to relieve pressure at the border.

“These actions make clear that there is a lawful and orderly way for Venezuelans to enter the United States, and lawful entry is the only way,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement, adding that anyone who crosses the border without permission becomes ineligible for the new program.

The Biden administration would admit Venezuelans under what’s called “humanitarian parole,” which is a permission to enter the country, not an immigration status.

It allows for fast entry, and was used to accept most of the 76,000 Afghan war allies who were brought to the United States, including about 5,000 who settled in the Philadelphia region. The administration this year offered the same to Ukrainians under Uniting for Ukraine, and local Ukrainian American leaders estimate that more than 10,000 have come to this area.

Humanitarian parole provides no automatic right to the housing, medical, job, and social benefits that go to official refugees. Nor does it offer a clear path to permanent residency or citizenship.

“There should be a program for people from Venezuela as there was for people from Ukraine — and, the U.S. should set that up for other people who are coming into the U.S, like Haitians,” said Peter Pedemonti, codirector of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, an immigrant-justice organization.

Requiring Venezuelan migrants to have U.S. sponsors, he said, shifts cost and responsibility off the U.S. government and onto friends and family members in this country.

“If you’re going to call something humanitarian, it should be humanitarian,” he said.

The number of Venezuelan immigrants in the United States has surged, making them the fifth-largest South American immigrant population in the country, according to the Migration Policy Institute in Washington. An estimated half a million Venezuelans live in the United States today.

Census records estimate that 1,500 Venezuelans live in Philadelphia. Buitrago said the more accurate, regional number is far larger, closer to 12,000 people, spread from Chester County to South Jersey.

Venezuela is roughly twice the size of California, home to about 30 million people and known for its vast oil reserves. The United States Institute of Peace, a national nonpartisan organization, says the country is in the midst of “an unprecedented social and humanitarian collapse” that’s created a huge migration crisis.

In the last decade, Venezuelans have experienced sharp declines in their economic welfare, battered by high inflation, rising corruption, and political persecution that have caused an estimated 5.1 million people to leave, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Most Venezuelans who left the country have moved to Latin American and Caribbean countries, but the United States’ economic power has caused many to undertake a dangerous trek to the U.S.- Mexico border.

“That their expulsions will be cloaked in public health concerns just weeks after President Biden declared the pandemic ‘over’ is deeply disturbing,” tweeted Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a major advocacy organization in Baltimore. “This will undoubtedly and disproportionately impact Venezuelans who do not have close U.S. ties, but who are nonetheless deserving of due process and protection.”

Staff writer Dylan Purcell contributed to this article.