Migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba are in limbo on the border of Mexico after the decision of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, not to extend temporary permits for these nationalities and the promise of the former president (2017-2021) and Republican candidate, Donald Trump, to eliminate the ‘humanitarian parole’.

The immigration restrictions, imposed as the US presidential elections approach on November 5, affect Ciudad Juárez, the epicenter of the humanitarian migration crisis in Mexico.

In the face of the elections and the change in migration policy, “there are still many people who are surely expectant, attentive to the international political dynamic,” said Jesús Enrique Valenzuela, general coordinator of the State Population Council (COESPO).

“Even, we must say, this type of situation that occurs both in Mexico and in the United States and that, in some way, could affect migration policy, because of course they somehow impact the flow of people,” he told EFE.

Without permission to migrate

The Biden Government announced on October 4 that it will not allow people from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela who arrived in the country with a program known as ‘humanitarian speech’ to extend the migration benefit for more than two years.

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More than half a million people of these four nationalities have entered the country under the program, which began in October 2022 for Venezuelans and extended to the other three nationalities in February 2023.

The decision, announced less than a month before the November 5 elections, came amid criticism from Trump, who said in September that, if he returned to the White House, he would end up with the benefit.

This has left migrants who are stranded in Mexico “very worried”, such as Nicaraguan Lionel Martín Olivas.

“I left my country because I am politically persecuted and in that fact I would no longer be able to return to my country and, if they do not let me into the United States either, then it hurts me a lot because it would be in the air, I would not know what to do anymore. And, like everything, one is thinking about reaching the United States to get ahead,” he said.

Humanitarian permits for migrants

Humanitarian permits, implemented by the current Administration, allowed migrants from these countries to apply for temporary protection in the United States due to the crises in their home nations, but Trump maintained that this measure is “an invitation to uncontrolled immigration.”

Migrants who left these countries in the hope of seeking asylum in the United States now feel that their journey was in vain.

“It seems unfair to me because one spends so much work to get here and one is applying, that is, to pass legally. One is no longer going through the wall or anything like that and it seems unfair to me that you want to close the application to so many people that we want to pass legally,” said Darlenis, originally from Venezuela.

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The Government of Mexico reported 200,289 Venezuelans “in an irregular migration situation” in the first half of 2024, 215% more than reported in the same period of the previous year, so Venezuela is the main country of origin of irregular migrants in Mexico, where they represent more than one in four.

Migration is one of the pillars of Trump’s campaign, who has also promised to reinstate other more restrictive policies, such as the construction of the border wall and the re-establishment of the ‘Stay in Mexico’ program, which forces asylum seekers to wait in this country.