By EFE
Jun 22, 2024, 11:18 AM EDT
Miami – The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) seeks to resume direct deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants to their country, and increase the repatriations of Cubans, which restarted this year after having been suspended during the pandemic of covid-19.
Patrick J. Lechleitner, acting director of ICE, said in an interview with the Miami Herald that he wants the federal government to resume those returns to both countries, from which thousands of migrants have come trying to cross the border in recent years.
“I would love to strengthen them,” he told the Miami newspaper, pointing out that they were holding negotiations with those countries.
“We are still talking and trying,” he added.
He stressed that ICE has to navigate “a very dynamic international environment” amid deportation flights whose frequency can fluctuate depending on whether a foreign government is open to receiving its citizens at a given time, a variable that is outside of its control. agency.
Last May, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processed more than 44,500 people through appointments at U.S. ports of entry using advanced information submitted through the CBP One app.
Since that appointment scheduling feature was introduced in January 2023 through the end of last May, more than 636,600 people have scheduled appointments to show up at ports of entry
The main nationalities processed after his arrival for appointment are Venezuelan and Cuban, followed by Haitian, Mexican and Honduran.
Irregular migrant crossings at the US southern border decreased in May for the third consecutive month, according to CBP, with 117,900 arrests, 9% less than April.
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