(CNN) — More than 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, according to a Homeland Security spokesman.
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 a designed pathway for Venezuelans to enter the US without crossing the US-Mexico border.
A Venezuelan migrant holds a flag as he crosses the Rio Grande (also Rio Grande) back to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, after a demonstration against US immigration policies along the border fence, on October 31, 2022.CreditCredit : HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images.
Officials have credited the program with reducing the number of Venezuelans crossing the US-Mexico border from more than 1,000 a day on average to only about 100 a day right now.
Between mid-October and November 30, more than 14,000 Venezuelans have been tested and approved. More than 5,900 have already arrived in the United States, the spokesperson said. When the administration launched the program, officials said they would accept up to 24,000 Venezuelans.
“The data shows that when there is a legal and orderly way for people under investigation to travel to the United States, people are less inclined to put their lives in the hands of smugglers,” the spokesperson said.