The Biden Administration reopens the reunion program for Central American minors with their parents in the United States

A Texas border agent removes an immigration status bracelet from Santiago, who traveled with his mother from Honduras to apply for asylum.ADREES LATIF / Reuters

The Joe Biden Administration announced this Wednesday the reopening of the Central American Minors (CAM) program, which aims to reunite children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras who meet certain requirements, with their parents who are legally in the United States.

Roberta Jacobson, affairs coordinator for the southern border, explained that the measure is part of the efforts to offer more legal alternatives to those who need to enter the country, but was clear that they are not welcome if they do not have the documents in order.

“The border is closed.

This is not the time, it never is, to arrive in the United States irregularly, "he said.

In December 2014, at the height of the arrival of single children to the United States, then-President Barack Obama created the CAM program, but the Donald Trump Administration ended it in 2017. The State Department has detailed in a statement that the reestablishment of this initiative will have two phases.

In the first, they will process the applications that were frozen in 2017. For this, the agencies will have to verify that the parents are still legally in the United States and want to reopen their child's case.

In the second, they will start accepting new applications.

The Administration anticipates that the first contacts with parents will start next week.

The border coordinator maintained that, so far, they have admitted more than 1,400 asylum seekers that the Trump Administration had forced to wait in Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program.

The Biden administration has rejected the idea that there is a "crisis" at the border.

However, the number of unaccompanied children who have arrived has tripled in the last two weeks, overwhelming reception facilities.

Asked about the increase in the numbers, Jacobson said it may be driven in part by a sense of "hope" among migrants.

"There was significant hope for a more humane policy" than that of the Trump era, he said.

In January, the month Biden took office, border police intercepted about 78,000 migrants, the highest number for that month in 10 years.

Most were adults or families who were quickly returned under the emergency regulations for the pandemic, established by Trump and still in force.

Of the total, 5,800 were unaccompanied children, who the US government must, by law, take into their custody and find a space to take them in.

Jacobson stated that the Administration has made "multiple commitments" with the Governments of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras on current concerns of migration to the United States.

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