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# 									Interagency U.S. Migration Policy Overview							

FPC Briefing

Eric Jacobstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary For Central AmericaBureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs

Marcela Escobari, Special Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration at the National Security Council

Luis Miranda, Department of Homeland Security Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications

Thursday, April 25, 2024, 3:00 p.m. ET

Washington, D.C.

April 25, 2024

## 								Summary							

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Briefers provide an overview of ongoing U.S. efforts to humanely manage migration at our southwest border by enforcing U.S. laws and working with our partners to strengthen border enforcement in the region, expand lawful pathways, support the stabilization and integration of migrants within the region, and address root causes. They also discuss continued collaboration with our partners in the Western Hemisphere ahead of the next Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection Ministerial— a migration pact signed in 2022 by President Biden and 20 other leaders across the region – which will be hosted by Guatemala. 
   

**THE WASHINGTON FOREIGN PRESS CENTER, WASHINGTON, D.C.**

**MODERATOR:**  Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center.  My name is Leah Knobel, and I’m the moderator for today’s briefing.  Today it is my pleasure to introduce Marcela Escobari, Special Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration at the National Security Council; Luis Miranda, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications at the Department of Homeland Security; and Eric Jacobstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central America, Cuba, and Migration at the Department of State.  

They will provide an overview of ongoing U.S. efforts to humanely manage migration at our southwest border, as well as collaboration with our partners in the Western Hemisphere to address the root causes of migration ahead of the upcoming Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection ministerial, hosted by Guatemala.  

A reminder that this discussion is on the record, and we will post a transcript and video of the briefing on our website, FPC.state.gov, later today. For the journalists joining us on Zoom, please take a moment now to rename yourself in the chat window with your name, outlet, and country.  

I would now like to invite Ms. Escobari to begin with her opening remarks. 

**MS ESCOBARI:**  Great.  Thank you so much.  Well, thank you for hosting us and giving us the opportunity to provide an update on our efforts to manage hemispheric migration in a safe, humane, and orderly way.

Two years ago, at the Summit of the Americas, President Biden joined 20 of our partners from across the hemisphere in launching a bold new initiative – the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection – under the premise that together we can address this shared challenge impacting the entire region and our coordinated efforts could be more than the sum of our parts.  And my mission at the National Security Council is to lead the U.S. diplomatic efforts under this regionally driven initiative, working side by side with our partners. 

To that end, I am pleased to confirm that the United States will be joining our partners in Guatemala City on May 7th for the third Los Angeles Declaration ministerial.  As our high-level participation in the ministerial will show, President Biden remains fully committed to this collaborative approach, which continues to drive action across its three pillars.  

First, we are addressing the root causes driving people to leave their homes.  It was a priority for President Biden when he was vice president, and it remains a priority now.  The Biden-Harris administration’s Root Causes Strategy for Central America has helped people find opportunities in their home communities.  Just in the last three years, our assistance has helped create over 250,000 jobs in the region, increased productivity and incomes for more than 60,000 agricultural producers.  It has generated more than 500 million in new sales and helped keep in school more than 465,000 primary and secondary students. 

While we know the causes driving people to leave their homes are complex, we see this work as bearing fruit.  We saw a 30 percent decrease in the number of Central Americans at the border from Fiscal Year ’21 to Fiscal Year ’23, and a double-digit decrease in Guatemalans’ and Hondurans’ intentions to migrate when compared to 2021, according to the LAPOP survey conducted in 2023.  And we are not doing this alone.  We have united forces with Mexico, partnering with their development agency AMEXCID to support at-risk populations in Central America together. 

Secondly, we are leading a historic expansion of lawful migration pathways to the United States and other countries, while supporting the regularization and integration of migrants throughout the region.  Initiatives like the CHNV, Uniting for Ukraine, and temporary labor pathways allow people to migrate safely and legally.  Our work with the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have helped nearly triple the number of temporary work visas to over 28,000 in 2023, filling critical labor gaps here in the United States and allowing migrants to return to their families with new skills and resources to invest in their communities. 

President Biden has also rebuilt our refugee resettlement program, recognizing that it advances our national security, our economy, and our values as a nation of laws and migrants.  Through our Safe Mobility Offices, launched with our partners in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Ecuador, nearly 20,000 individuals have been approved to come to the United States legally and safely, a sixfold increase over the previous year.   We know lawful migration strengthens our economy.  Refugees and asylees contributed almost 124 billion to our economy from 2005 to 2019, per a recent HHS study.  

And again, we are not doing this alone.  Our partners recognize the benefits of lawful migration and integration, and have taken important steps.  Earlier this month, Colombia now said it will offer legal status to up to 350,000 additional migrants.  Since 2021, Colombia has provided 10-year legal status to over 2 million mostly Venezuelan migrants.  These integration efforts have the potential to increase Colombia’s GDP by 4.5 percentage points by 2030, according to the IMF.  Brazil’s Operation Welcome is also an impressive regional example of efficient and smart migration management.  Brazil has welcomed over 500,000 Venezuelans since 2018 and matched migrants with labor needs all over the country.  In a few days, we’re looking forward to holding our first-ever bilateral migration dialogue with Brazil to discuss expanding our collaboration on migration.  

Together, these collective efforts are helping us meaningfully improve lives, modernize our approach to irregular migration, and reduce the need for people to make the dangerous journey north, while recognizing the significant contributions of lawful pathways.  

Lastly, we are working with our partners on enforcement and humane management of borders across the region.  We have taken additional steps to crack down on smugglers and traffickers, including by imposing visa restrictions on those profiting off of vulnerable migrants.  And we’re working closely with our Mexican partners, who have increased their enforcement efforts, including on rails and highways.  

Last week, on behalf of the President, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall met with President López Obrador to further strengthen our collaboration.  This was her tenth trip to Mexico just in the last year and a half.  Our joint efforts have contributed an almost 40 percent decrease in encounters of irregular migrants at our southwest border during the first three months of this year, compared to the same to – to the three months immediately prior.

This is the spirit of the Los Angeles Declaration, a shared belief that together we can respond to the historic challenges of immigration in a humane, orderly, and safe way that advances our shared interest.  We look forward to a productive ministerial on May 7th to make further progress, and we thank Guatemala not only for hosting but for its continued regional leadership.  Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

**MR JACOBSTEIN:**Thank you.  Thank you, Marcela, and thank you to the team at the Foreign Press Center for organizing and hosting all of us here today.  

As Coordinator Escobari said, President Biden remains focused on our comprehensive long-term engagement with partners in the region to address the hardships and challenges that are being faced every day by migrants and across governments.  The challenges are significant, but we’re addressing them together within the United States Government and throughout the region.  We have a shared commitment to enhance enforcement and safe, orderly, humane migration.  And we want to make sure that the work that we are doing continues to move us in that direction. 

So let me first discuss the administration’s deep focus on our partnership with Guatemala.  Our administration has been working intensively to strengthen bilateral relations with the new Government of Guatemala.  We greatly appreciate the efforts of the Arévalo administration, not only in terms of the democratic transition and its robust anti-corruption agenda, but also its commitment to coordinate closely on our shared challenges, which include irregular migration.   And we are particularly grateful for their leadership in hosting this next ministerial of the Los Angeles Declaration.  

On March 18th, State Department Under Secretary Jose Fernandez led the first-ever U.S.-Guatemala High-Level Economic Dialogue, which really demonstrated our commitment to work with the Guatemalans to advance inclusive economic growth and create opportunities at home so that Guatemalans are not forced to make the dangerous journey north.  And on March 25th, President Arévalo met here in Washington with both President Biden and Vice President Harris.  

On the issue of irregular migration specifically, Vice President Harris and President Arévalo discussed the importance of providing access to lawful pathways, increasing cooperation on border enforcement, and U.S. support for Guatemala’s migration management efforts.  The Vice President and President Arévalo agreed on the urgent need to address the drivers of irregular migration from northern Central America, and to continue cooperation under the Biden-Harris administration’s Root Causes Strategy.  

To that end, we’re particularly proud that Central America Forward, which is the public-private partnership that was launched by the Vice President in May of 2021, now has mobilized more than $5.2 billion in private-sector investments for northern Central America.  And so we really look forward to bringing that same level of commitment and coordination with partner countries throughout the region at the May 7th Los Angeles Declaration ministerial meeting in Guatemala City.  And so we’re hopeful that other partners throughout the region, throughout the world will increase their support for Guatemala and for the entire northern Central American region in addressing the root causes of migration.

So in addition to our root-causes work and our support for safe, orderly, humane migration, and really to provide protection to refugees and vulnerable migrants, as Coordinator Escobari mentioned, we’re very proud of our Safe Mobility Offices throughout the region, which are facilitating expedited refugee geoprocessing via the U.S. Refugee Admission Program.  And they also provide information, referrals, and such to humanitarian parole, family reunification, and labor programs.  

So as of April 14th of this month, more than 170,000 individuals have applied for the SMO initiative, the Safe Mobility Office initiative.  Applicant screening and counseling sessions are ongoing.  And since the launch of these offices in June of 2023, more than 28,000 individuals have been referred to the U.S. Refugee Admission Program for potential resettlement to the United States, and more than 16,000 individuals have been screened for other lawful pathways to the United States.  More than 19,300 individuals have been approved to come the United States, and more than 7,500 have already arrived safely and to their new homes in the United States.  And thousands of additional applicants are in the final stage of processing and will arrive in the coming weeks.

We’re working with partners in Colombia, in Costa Rica, in Ecuador, in Guatemala, where we’ve stood up these innovative new Safe Mobility Offices.  So it’s important to note that individuals seeking international protection and other lawful pathways into the United States have many options, including refugee resettlement, humanitarian parole, family reunification, labor pathways, and seeking asylum in host countries, as well as various other support services provided by international organizations and NGOs.  Taken together, these initiatives are the largest expansion of lawful pathways to the United States in decades.  But our message is clear:  Take advantage of these lawful pathways rather than make the dangerous journey north.  And so we continue to robustly enforce immigration laws, and there are serious consequences, including removal, for those who do not use lawful pathways and do not have a legal basis to remain.  

And in the enforcement space, let me just say that we are sharpening our focus on charter companies, some of whom, in cooperation with Nicaragua’s Ortega-Murillo regime, have offered flights to Managua and charge extortion-level prices that put migrants into a dangerous overland path north to the U.S. border.  And while these migrants predominantly come from the Caribbean, others come from Africa, Asia, and elsewhere, and we’re seeing those increased numbers in recent months. 

So in response to this disturbing trend, on March 4th Secretary Blinken took steps to impose visa restrictions on air charter company executives for facilitating irregular migration into the United States.  And these visa restrictions – this policy put forward by the Secretary was later expanded to target owners, executives, and senior officials of companies providing charter transportation and transportation by land and sea designed for use primarily by persons intending to migrate irregularly to the United States.  Our feeling is no one should profit from vulnerable migrants – not smugglers, private companies, public officials, or governments like the Ortega-Murillo regime.  So we’ll continue engaging with governments and we’ll continue to impose visa restrictions as needed to crack down on this practice. 

So thank you again for the opportunity to join today’s briefing, and I’ll now turn to Luis for some comments from DHS. 

**MR MIRANDA:**  Thank you very much.  Thank you, Eric.  Thank you, Marcela, and Leah and everybody at the Foreign Press Center, but also all of you for being here today.  The ability to communicate and discern fact from myth is so important, and we need you to be able to do that. 

The spirit of collaboration outlined by my colleagues is a vital aspect of our efforts under Secretary Mayorkas at the Department of Homeland Security to enhance border security and manage irregular migration, as Marcela said, in a safe, orderly, and humane way.  The world is seeing historic levels of displacement and migration for a variety of reasons, but our work with counterparts throughout this hemisphere and around the world is having positive results, including the restrictions that DAS Jacobstein was just talking about.  

For those intending to migrate to our southwest border, the strength of the American economy does remain a factor.  So in addition to this collaboration that we’re talking about, it is a focus of our efforts to communicate with audiences throughout the region and around the world to really level-set on the reality of what U.S. immigration laws do and how we’re enforcing them. 

So under U.S. law, our borders are not open to irregular or illegal migration.  There are consequences for individuals who cross irregularly or illegally, even if they intend to turn themselves in to Border Patrol.  Those consequences include removal of individuals who don’t have a legal basis to remain, including expedited removal, a five-year bar on re-entry, and prosecution for recidivism.  It’s also important to note that this administration has leveraged an expansion of lawful pathways along with the strengthened consequences that we’re imposing for those who fail to use lawful pathways and orderly processes.  

So since May 12th of last year at the end of the public health order under Title 42, we have been imposing the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule over the last year, which presumes that those who fail to use those lawful pathways are ineligible for asylum, with some exceptions.  

By the numbers, from May 12th through April 17th, we’ve removed or returned over 690,000 individuals, the vast majority of whom crossed the southwest border, including more than 105,000 individual family members.  That’s important because one of the pieces of misinformation we see smugglers use is to convince people that maybe if they arrive as a family that they won’t be deported.  So it’s important for people to understand the realities of how consequences are imposed.  That also includes removals to 170* countries across the world, and over the last three years – and this is a really significant statistic – the majority of individuals encountered at the southwest border have been removed, returned, or expelled.  In fact, total removals and returns since mid-May exceed removals and returns in every full fiscal year since 2011.  So in the last 10 months or so, we’ve conducted more removals and returns than in every full fiscal year since 2011. 

Of course, many people believe the misinformation that they see on social media telling them that they can quickly cross and turn themselves in, so we continue to emphasize that the use of expedited removal for those without a legal basis to stay is a possibility; also, to make sure that people understand that crossing illegally does not make them eligible for a work permit; and that even for those who claim asylum, they have to wait a minimum of 150 days before even applying for a work permit and at least another 30 days before they could receive one. 

Our expansion of lawful pathways and orderly processes, consistent with the spirit of the L.A. Declaration, does provide better options.  Those pathways and processes have prevented nearly 1 million individuals from attempting illegal migration between ports of entry.  Through the end of March 2024, over 404,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans have been able to arrive lawfully under the parole processes that we established in October 2022 for Venezuelans and subsequently last January 5th for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans.  

Additionally, since the appointment scheduling function in CPB One was introduced in January of 2023, through the end of March more than 547,000 individuals have successfully scheduled appointments to present at ports of entry using CPB One.  Again, that’s nearly 1 million people who have chosen to follow a lawful pathway or an orderly process instead of risking their lives and savings in the hands of smugglers.  

While we recognize that significant challenges do remain, the DHS workforce, our frontline officers and agents at U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the southwest border, the rest of the DHS personnel that support them, they’re on the job.  And we’re going to continue to enforce U.S. immigration law.  Encounters at our southern border are lower now than they have been in prior months, but we do remain prepared, continually managing operations to respond to shifting patterns as necessary.  And we’re going to continue to call on Congress to provide the tools and funding necessary to continue to strengthen our border security.  But, again, the fact remains the U.S. is enforcing immigration, and our borders are not open without – for those without a legal basis to enter the country.  

And with that, Leah, I’ll turn it over to you.  Thank you.

**MODERATOR:**Thank you.  We’ll now take questions.  For those of you in the room, please raise your hand, wait to be called on, and please also state your name and media outlet and please speak up so we can hear you.  And for those of us on – for those of us joining on Zoom, please be sure your screenname includes your name, outlet, and country; click on the raised hand icon to indicate you have a question.  And we’ll start in the room first.  Okay.  We’ll start – Jose Luis, I think.  Second row.  

**QUESTION:**  Jose Luis.  I’m from El Faro.  In Central American civil society, there’s a widespread perception that the United States prioritizes the migration policies over the human rights practices in the region.  I want your opinion on the impact that would – the recent report on human rights in Central America that have immigration coming from the region?

**MR JACOBSTEIN:**Great.  Thank you for that question, Jose Luis.  I would say under the Root Causes Strategy, we’re focused on multiple factors, including governance.  And we feel governance is at the core of much of what we do in this – in the region, because without good governance, it’s hard to have economic prosperity, it’s hard to have security.  So we feel like migration management is certainly a priority, but governance and human rights are also a priority.  And you have to look no further than the United States efforts to support the democratic transition in Guatemala to see an example where we’re prioritizing governance in a big, major way.  

In terms of the Human Rights Report itself, I would just say overall the Human Rights Report, which was released this week, it captures facts about the observance of and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.  The Human Rights Report, it does not contain analysis, it makes no judgements, it makes no statements or determinations as a matter of domestic and international law; but it provides information that’s often used by our Congress, by the Executive Branch, and by immigration adjudicators in making policies and decisions where accurate information on human rights conditions is critical.  So the human rights piece is critical, so is governance, and so is migration management in a big way with everything that Marcela laid out in terms of the President’s priorities for this upcoming meeting.

**MODERATOR:**Okay.  Alex. 

**QUESTION:**  Thank you so much.  Alex Raufoglu from Turan News Agency.  Thanks so much for being here and for the introduction.  Those numbers are incredibly powerful.  I was hoping to get some sort of a progress report about Regional Processing Centers that were last year at this time announced by both Secretary Blinken and Mayorkas in the State Department Briefing Room.  How many of them are currently operating?  Where exactly?  The numbers that you guys provided, how many cases have been approved?  Have they been approved by the U.S. officers or international partners that were – back then you guys announced?  It sounds like it’s like some – part of the job is being outsourced.  If that’s the case, just wanted to understand who is exactly leading this process.  

And finally on the disinformation campaign not only in the hemisphere, but my (inaudible) I cover Eastern Europe, you can see adversaries like Russia are pushing disinformation like the southern border is open for everyone.  So how much is this contributing to the problem – scope of the problem?  Thanks so much.  

**MR JACOBSTEIN:**  Yeah, so in terms of Safe Mobility Offices, I think the numbers paint a clear picture of the success.  This has been more successful than imagined.  This is a process that’s done in close cooperation with international organizations, with UNHCR, with the International Organization for Migration.  So as I noted before, since June of 2023 – since the launch of this initiative which is now known as the Safe Mobility Office Initiative – more than 28,500 individuals have been referred to the U.S refugee admission processing program and more than 19,300 individuals have been approved to come to the United States, and we have more than 7,500 individuals already arrived.  So this is a close partnership with governments in the region, with international organizations, and the message out of this to us is clear.  The message is:  Take advantage of these lawful pathways rather than making irregular journey north.

**MS ESCOBARI:**Let me reinforce this.  The numbers that DAS Jacobstein just raised, which the SMOs are part of a whole ecosystem to really advance and increase the number of legal pathways to the U.S. and to other countries – so the work, for example, that we have helped in collaboration with Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador has expanded the availability of H-2 visas, legal pathways from like 5,000 to 28,000 in the last few years, and reduced the processing time.  And again, our studies and our recent study that just came out showed that the availability of these legal pathways, which the SMOs are an engine to help provide access to, have reduced by a third – in communities where these legal pathways are available, people migrate at a third of the rate that in communities that don’t have them.

So we see this expansion to be not only the – a better way to migrate, but also reducing the numbers of irregular migration.

**MR MIRANDA:**  And if I could just clarify one point that you – in your question, you said that it seems like it’s being outsourced.  There is nothing outsourced about the screening and vetting that we conduct on anyone coming to the United States, up to and including on their arrival.  So I think that that’s important, that we do have a multilayered screening and vetting.  And if we detect public safety or national security threats, obviously, we screen for those.  So that – nothing of that nature is outsourced.

**MR JACOBSTEIN:**  Sure, I would just say that we’re absolutely concerned about disinformation regarding migration.  And I would just say our message is count on official sources.  You asked about the Safe Mobility Offices.  I would encourage individuals to go to movilidadsegura.org to find out information about where to go.  This is a process that you can actually do – the bulk of this process can be carried out online, so that – rely on official sources of information rather than the information that’s being circulated by smugglers and others, because there are consequences for those who come irregularly and don’t take advantage of lawful pathways.

**MS ESCOBARI:**  Just to add, that’s part of the spirit of the LA Declaration and our work together with over 20 countries in the region so that people can have the official information that is coordinated among all of us in terms of expanding legal pathways as well as our rules and regulations.  

**MODERATOR:**  Go ahead.

**QUESTION:**  (Inaudible.)  I remember DHS was calling for a bipartisan approach to deal with the situation in the border.  So do you really think that Democrats and Republicans can have any agreement on this issue?

**MR MIRANDA:**  Well, there was an agreement – excuse me, let me turn that on.  There was an agreement in the Senate that was bipartisan in nature and that would have provided significant tools and resources.  We continue to call on Congress to pass that.  I am not a prognosticator of what can move through Capitol Hill, but it is something that we continue to urge Congress to do.

**QUESTION:**  (Inaudible) organizations that are assisting migrants at the southwest border?

**MR MIRANDA:**  We’re providing communities inside the United States significant resources.  We’ve provided over a billion dollars in the past two years.  We also just recently announced another round of funding through what we call the Shelter and Services Program.  And that goes to nonprofit organizations, cities, others that are providing immediate services to migrants, temporary services just to help them move along.  But it’s not – it is not something that is – reaches necessarily the levels that we need, which is why we want to continue to emphasize that if Congress does pass that Senate bill, it does contribute significantly to our ability to help those communities.

**MODERATOR:**  Okay.  Maria?

**QUESTION:**  Hi.  NTN24.  So a recent poll by Meganalisis shows that 40 percent of the people in Venezuela are considering leaving the country if Nicolas Maduro wins the elections on July.  We would like to know if you have any information with regards to this, and if the U.S. is prepared to receive more Venezuelans, even more Venezuelans after July.

**MR JACOBSTEIN:**  Thanks for your question.  I would just say that the U.S. supports the Venezuelan people’s desire for free and fair elections that represent their will and peacefully restore democracy.  So from our perspective, full implementation of the Barbados Agreement really offers the best path here to restore the democracy that Venezuelans deserve, improve economic and humanitarian conditions, and ultimately address the migration crisis that you referenced.

So due to Maduro and his representatives’ failure to fully follow through on their commitments under the electoral roadmap agreement – which was signed in Barbados, as you know, in October of 2023 – the Treasury Department announced that it will not renew General License 44, which authorizes transactions related to oil and gas sector operations.  So to us, full implementation of the Barbados Agreement is really critical, especially in getting at the migration issues you noted.

**MS ESCOBARI:**  And just to say that we are aligned with our partners not only throughout the region but throughout the world in calling for competitive, inclusive elections in Venezuela.

**QUESTION:**  But are you expecting (inaudible) Venezuelans after July, like the polls say?

**MR MIRANDA:**  We’re not making any prognostications at this point that we would communicate publicly.  What we are doing is enforcing U.S. immigration law and encouraging people to leverage lawful pathways.  Because whether it’s crossing the Darién or putting their lives in the hands of criminal smuggling networks, I think it’s important for people to understand that south of the U.S. border, the illegal trafficking routes are controlled by cartels; that we see significant incidence of extortion, kidnapping, abuse, territorial friction between different groups that results in injury or death to migrants.  

So it really is not the way to go, and that’s why we continue to urge people to really look at these lawful pathways.  We’ve had success with those.  We talked about the Venezuelans – more than 102,000 have been vetted and approved for travel through the CHNV parole processes; more than 95,000 of those have already arrived.  That’s a significant – significantly better option than trying to cross illegally.

**MODERATOR:**  Okay, we’re going to turn to a couple questions on Zoom.  John Ford with the Tribune, if you could unmute yourself and ask your question, please.  Okay —

**QUESTION:**  Hi.  Thank you for doing this.  I understand that overland illegal migration makes the headlines, but I wonder if you could compare overland and maritime migration numbers and assess the relative threat to U.S. national security.

**MR MIRANDA:**  What I can say is that maritime migration remains low.  Obviously we continue to monitor for any changes consistently, but we do have significant assets through our Homeland Security Task Force Southeast that includes the Coast Guard, Border Patrol, and other law enforcement partners working consistently to monitor the Florida Straits and really conduct a lot of rescues but also repatriations.  When we do interdict people at sea, we do repatriate.

**MODERATOR:**  Okay, thank you.  Next we’ll go to Jose Diaz with Reforma.  Could you please unmute yourself and turn on your video, if possible, to ask your question?

**QUESTION:**  Yes.  My question is for Mr. Miranda.  I have asked this question six times and DHS never got – comes back with an answer, so I hope you can reply to it.  How many nationals of Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua has DHS deported to Mexico since the end of Title 42 in May of 2023?

**MR MIRANDA:**  Thanks for the question, Jose.  More than 311,000 people have been removed or returned to Mexico since May 12th.  That includes Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.  I don’t have the breakout, but I think two important points are a part of that.  One is that Mexico does take back as many as 30,000; they announced that determination last year.  And separately, I think it’s also worth noting that in the months immediately after we instituted the parole processes – first for Venezuelans in October of 2022 and then in January for the other three populations – we saw significant drops of upwards of 95, 98 percent of those populations trying to cross, so that also plays into the need or lack of need during several months for those kinds of returns thanks to that.  

So it is something that we consider as an important part of these programs functioning, is that we do have the ability to both extend that lawful pathway but also apply consequences for those who don’t follow them.  Thank you.

**MODERATOR:**  Thanks.  We’ll go back to the room now.  Did you have a question?  Go ahead.

**QUESTION:**  Would like to compliment because – about hearing the presentation.  Wonderful.  Thank you very much for your leadership and service.

America is a land of immigrants and a land of equal opportunity.  It’s a unique example in the world.  I would like to ask you that – how you see the future of immigrants in America?  Because we have seen different voices, we have heard different voices, and one voice was bothering to me, “Ban Muslims.”  It was a voice which I never like to hear, because America respect and accept the diversity, and definitely is – this question is different, because you are talking about the reasons (inaudible) everything, but I love America.  I want to see that how America should better understand outside America.

**MODERATOR:**  Sorry, could you introduce yourself and your outlet before they answer?

**QUESTION:**  Anyone can address it – specifically to Ms. Marcela (inaudible).

**MODERATOR:**  But could you introduce yourself and your outlet?

**QUESTION:**  (Inaudible.)

**QUESTION:**  Yes.  I’m sorry, I have a – hard of hearing, because old guy.  My name is Zulfiqar Kazmi.  I represent Discover Pakistan.  Basically it’s a tourism channel, and tourism – when we talk about the tourism, we talk about the immigration as well.  It’s related to everything.  So thank you very much for accepting my compliment and question here.

**MS ESCOBARI:**  No, thank you, and I can totally relate to your comment.  I am an immigrant, I love America, and this is why I’m serving our President.  And I absolutely believe that we can have orderly, safe migration and provide avenues for people to come here regularly.  It’s good for us and it’s good for them, and what is amazing and I think different about what this President has done – through the L.A. Declaration and the event that we’re going – is that it has worked with the region to do this so that what is a human tragedy of 10 million people that have been displaced in the region – mostly in autocracies – can be absorbed, can have the capacity to settle and thrive where they are, and migrate legally.

**MODERATOR:**  And we have time for just one or two more questions.  Jeisson, go ahead.

**QUESTION:**  (Inaudible) from NTN 24.  Thank you for being with us.  I would like to know if any of you can confirm this earlier report that says that the White House is considering ways to provide a path legal to status and work permits to immigrants that are in the U.S. illegally but are married to American citizens.  This is a benefit called parole in place that could be extended for 1.1 million of persons living in the United States. 

**MS ESCOBARI:**  We can take back that question.  I think right now the President, as somebody asked, is really focused on urging Congress to pass the Senate’s bipartisan border security agreement.  That is what will provide resources to secure our border and to make the immigration system fairer and faster.  

**QUESTION:**  (Inaudible) benefit from DHS?

**MR MIRANDA:**  We have nothing to announce today.  Again, I think it’s really important for people to understand that we continue to enforce U.S. immigration laws.  Whatever proposals or considerations are made or decided would have to be announced or formalized before any kind of public discussion.  There’s nothing that I could say at this point.  

**MODERATOR:**  Go ahead, Eduard.

**QUESTION:**  (Inaudible) from EFE News.   According to a new Axios poll published today, half of Americans support mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.  Do you have any comment on that?  Why do you think that that many people think this way, and are you worried by the – by the anti-immigration (inaudible) the country? 

**MS ESCOBARI:**  Think what we’re focused on, as I just mentioned, is in what we can do and the affirmative position of the President.  And I think that this bipartisan border security bill would make a huge difference in securing our border and, again, have a fairer and better immigration system.  And I think that would be a lot more effective and humane than alternatives.   

**MODERATOR:**  Okay.  Thank you.  This concludes our briefing.  I want to give a special thanks to our briefers for sharing their time with us today and to those of you who joined us.  Thank you.  

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