(CNN) — A Homeland Security spokesman said 14,000 Venezuelans have been approved to travel to the United States under a parole program launched by the Joe Biden administration to stem the flow of migrants to the US-Mexico border.
The administration wants a change in who comes to the border, which includes many Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans. In October, the government implemented a new program designed to provide Venezuelans with a pathway to enter the United States without crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
A Venezuelan migrant holds a flag as he returns to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on the Rio Grande (also Rio Grande) after a protest against US immigration policies at the border fence on October 31, 2022. Credit: HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP Images via.
Officials credit the program with reducing the number of Venezuelans crossing the U.S.-Mexico border from an average of 1,000 a day to about 100 a day now.
From mid-October to November 30, more than 14,000 Venezuelans were tested and approved. More than 5,900 have already arrived in the United States, the spokeswoman said. When the administration launched the program, officials said it would accept 24,000 Venezuelans.
“The data shows that people are less likely to put their lives in the hands of traffickers when people under investigation have a legal and orderly way to get to the United States,” the spokesperson said.