WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) the highest-ranking Latino in Congress and Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee today issued the following statement on recent reports of deportations of Venezuelans by the Biden Administration:
“The recent reports of the Biden Administration removing Venezuelans through third countries is extremely disturbing. By continuing to use a page from Trump’s immigration enforcement playbook, this administration is turning its back on the immigrants who need our protection the most. Under Maduro’s cruel regime, Venezuelans who are sent back face a grim future and, in many cases, harsh consequences for seeking political asylum in the United States.
“While I recognize the importance of carefully managing cross-border travel to facilitate our nation’s pandemic response, now that non-essential travel has resumed at our nation’s borders, the Administration should rip off the band aid, end these expulsions and restore the regular processing of asylum claims. Ultimately, the use of Title 42 deprives legitimate asylum seekers of their legal right to seek asylum and pursue their claims in the U.S., and its extended use has created unsafe conditions for vulnerable migrants, increased the number of dangerous border crossings, and has prevented the Biden Administration from fulfilling its early commitment to restore access to asylum.
“Venezuela is suffering a refugee crisis as the result of a brutal dictatorship and urgent humanitarian conditions. Using Title 42 to expel Venezuelan refugees to third countries, is unconscionable and has to stop. I sincerely hope President Biden corrects course immediately and orders Secretary Mayorkas and Secretary Blinken to reverse this cruel course of action.”
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