Lack of staff to care for unaccompanied minors 2:22
Washington (CNN) -
The Joe Biden administration will expand eligibility for the Central American Minors program, which gives certain at-risk children in the region the opportunity to apply for resettlement in the U.S., the Departments of State and Departments announced Tuesday. National security.
This expansion is part of the second phase of the program, which was relaunched in March after being shut down by the Trump administration.
The program aims to reunite qualified children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with their legal guardians who are legally living in the United States.
It is an effort to find an alternative for children who might otherwise make the dangerous journey to the US to cross the border illegally, and it comes as US officials at the Mexican border have seen a sharp increase in the number. of unaccompanied minors attempting to enter the country in recent months.
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In March, the administration began processing eligible applications that had been closed when the program ended in 2017. In the second phase, eligibility for the program will be open to various categories of qualified parents or legal guardians, who may request that children be join them in America.
The changes "will dramatically expand access" to the program for Central American minors, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of National Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a joint statement.
"We are firmly committed to welcoming people to the United States with humanity and respect, as well as providing a legal alternative to irregular migration," they said.
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Roberta Jacobson, the southern border coordinator, said earlier this year that when the Trump administration suspended the program, it left "about 3,000 children already approved for travel stranded."
CNN's Devan Cole, Betsy Klein, and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.
