Deportation and New Border Barriers— Biden’s Responses to the Ongoing Border Crisis

During the first eight months of 2023, over 330,000 migrants have crossed the border, with 60 percent coming from Venezuela and 21 percent being children. In response to the migrant influx, Republican governors of border states such as Florida and Texas have sent these migrants northward to major cities, mainly Democratic-led, without further consideration of the budget strain, housing shortage and humanitarian crisis that these cities will have to endure.  

As a consequence, the shelter system reached a breaking point in those cities, particularly New York City, where migrants take over half of the population. Migrants mainly had been sheltering in hotels, school gyms, vacant offices and parking lots, but now, many sleep on the street as a result of housing shortage and eviction. Meanwhile, due to work authorization delays, most of these migrants cannot work to provide for themselves, straining the city’s budget as it continues providing for free housing and food. 

In response to the migrant crisis, on Oct. 5, the Biden administration announced that it would start deporting Venezuelans who entered the United States unlawfully and expedite the construction of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. The actions were a significant turnabout for Biden who often attacked Trump’s “build the wall” policy as ineffective and unAmerican. Reacting to his new immigration policies, not only did the Republicans mock Biden for finally building a wall he didn’t believe to be effective, immigration advocates also decried Biden for choosing politics over humanity. 

Since the deportation policy was issued, the number of Venezuelans crossing the border has declined from over 2,000 per day to about 850, the data from The Washington Post shows. But the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela remains unresolved, as the State Department recently listed over 34 major human rights issues, including arbitrary killings, forced disappearance, strict censorship and violence by security forces. 

The start of deportation flights to Venezuela this October is part of a broader diplomatic deal to ease economic sanctions on the autocratic government of President Nicolás Maduro. According to ICE officials, they intended to send two to three planeloads of deportees back to Venezuela per week. 

Immigration advocates denounced this as dehumanizing as the deportation happened after Biden promised to issue temporary legal status to 470,000 Venezuelans in the United States. And the decline of Venezuelans crossing the border has not alleviated New York City’s housing crisis. And this is primarily due to the influx of Venezuelans migrating from other cities in the United States rather than from Venezuela. 

This year, Republicans have been suing to block Biden’s program that grants two-year travel authorization to over 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela per month through U.S. sponsorships. But what would affect Biden’s immigration policies is also the U.S. diplomatic relations with the Maduro government.

Suppose the deal to ease the economic sanctions falls apart. In that case, Maduro will likely halt the deportation flights, leaving the United States to seek alternative solutions to continue fighting the migration and humanitarian crisis.