Venezuelan migrant encounters decline at border after new U.S. policy 

The number of Venezuelans crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has significantly decreased since the Biden administration announced new immigration policies for migrants from the South American country, the New York Times reported. 

Before the administration announced the new set of policies, around 1,200 undocumented Venezuelans were crossing the border every day, officials said. 

After the policy was implemented, the number of undocumented migrants from Venezuela dropped to 150 per day, according to an administration official that spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday. 

Last week, the Biden administration rolled out a new set of policies targeting the large influx of Venezuelan migrants that were seeking asylum status in the U.S. 

Under the new policy, Venezuelans that are intercepted at the border will be expelled to Mexico, where they will be able to apply for a humanitarian parole program. The new program, based on the asylum visas given to Ukrainians fleeing the war, will allow up to 24,000 asylum seekers to enter the U.S. and secure work authorization. 

Previously, the U.S. would process Venezuelan migrants’ asylum cases within the country, because they could not be returned to their home country due to a lack of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Venezuela and no third country was willing to accept them. 

So far, the Department of homeland security has approved 150 applications that it received from Venezuelans seeking humanitarian parole, according to an official. However, he did not specify how many applications the department has received. 

According to the United Nations, more than 6.8 Venezuelans have fled the South American country since 2015 in order to escape poverty and political instability. 

In the past year alone, more than 150,000 Venezuelans made the dangerous journey from their home country to the United States, in hope of asylum.