00:00 Biden faces competing pressures as he tries to ease the migrant crisis.
00:04 The situation provides ammunition to conservative Republicans who are vowing
00:10 to shut down the government unless Congress agrees to harsh new anti-immigration measures.
00:15 The demand that President Biden ease the migrant crisis threatening to overwhelm American cities
00:22 came privately, from the New York governor to top White House officials.
00:27 It came publicly, in angry statements from Democratic and Republican officials around
00:32 the country. It came from scores of immigrant rights groups. On Wednesday, the Biden administration
00:40 relented. In one of the largest such actions ever taken, the Department of Homeland Security said
00:47 that almost a half million immigrants in the United States who had fled Venezuela's humanitarian
00:53 crisis would be allowed to immediately apply for work authorization. By allowing them to legally
01:00 earn income, the change could alleviate the costly burden of housing the refugees in major cities
01:06 across the country. The migrants also will be protected from deportation for at least the next
01:12 18 months. Administration officials say the decision was made, as required by law, because
01:19 of the worsening conditions in Venezuela, not the situation in New York or other cities.
01:25 But for Mr. Biden, the move is sure to inflame the already charged political debate,
01:32 both inside his own party and with Republicans,
01:35 about how to confront the surge of migration from South and Central America.
01:39 The situation at the border, where officials on Monday arrested 8,000 migrants,
01:46 close to record highs in May, is providing ammunition to conservative Republicans who
01:51 are vowing to shut down the government unless Congress agrees to new anti-immigration measures.
01:57 They argue that protecting recent Venezuelan migrants from deportation will only encourage
02:03 more to head north, hoping for similar treatment after they arrive. Advocates for the policy say
02:10 Venezuelans and other migrants decide to flee because they fear persecution, starvation and
02:16 violence, not because of a policy change thousands of miles away in Washington.
02:21 Mr. Biden singled out Venezuelans for the program because of their sheer numbers;
02:27 they make up the largest mass migration in the hemisphere in decades.
02:31 But the dramatic move by Mr. Biden is evidence of the human dimensions and political power of
02:38 an issue that has hounded him since he became president.
02:41 How to deal with the border is at the heart of the funding debate in Congress,
02:47 and is certain to be central to the debate between Mr. Biden and his Republican opponent
02:52 in the 2024 campaign next year. "The president is terribly compromising this country,
02:58 has done irreparable harm to the country with the border invasion he has allowed,"
03:03 Rep. Bob Good, Republican of Virginia, said on CNN on Thursday.
03:08 The administration's decision to expand temporary protected status to an additional 472,000
03:16 Venezuelans in the United States is in line with previous moves by the administration to extend
03:23 protections to some migrants from other countries. But it comes more than a year after Mr. Biden,
03:29 rejected similar pleas from immigration, advocates to broaden its TPS program for the
03:35 Venezuelan migrants. What changed, say people who engaged in the concerted effort to convince the
03:42 administration to act, is the pressure campaign from members of the president's own party.
03:47 The images of migrants sleeping on the streets of New York City and Strong, concerning statements
03:54 from the Democratic mayor and other leaders highlighted the urgency for federal action,
03:59 said Krish Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
04:04 Eleanor Acer, the senior director for refugee protection at Human Rights First,
04:11 said that "it's made a tremendous difference that cities and states were also making clear
04:16 that these changes would help their communities." The TPS law has been used for decades to provide
04:23 limited legal status to people who have tried to escape natural disasters or political violence.
04:29 It is designed to be a temporary refuge, usually 18 months, for people who cannot be sent home
04:36 because the crisis there is ongoing. But presidents in both parties have regularly extended TPS for
04:44 certain groups, some of whom have remained in the United States for decades. As of March 31,
04:51 2023, there are 16 countries whose citizens have been given TPS designation, according to the
04:58 Congressional Research Service, Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti,
05:06 Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.
05:17 This redesignation and extension of Venezuela for TPS is based on extraordinary and temporary
05:23 conditions in Venezuela that prevent their nationals from returning in safety,
05:28 said Neri Katudat, and spokeswoman at the Department of Homeland Security.
05:32 DHS is doing everything in its power to get the migrants who are eligible working.
05:38 Critics of the program have argued that the designations were being ran.
05:43 10.
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