Washington: In another move to unravel the immigration policies of its predecessor, the Biden administration said it is restarting an Obama-era immigration programme to reunite children from some Central American nations with their parents who are legally in the United States.
The State Department announced the resumption of the Central American Minors program in a statement on Wednesday, saying it was directed by President Joe Biden who has repeatedly instituted policies to turn back the Trump administration’s immigration stance since being inaugurated in January.
“Together with other efforts across the U.S. government, reopening the CAM program is an important step toward expanding lawful pathways for humanitarian protection and opportunity in the United States,” the department said.
Phase one of the program will seek to reunite children whose applications were shelved when it was terminated by the Trump administration in 2017.
Some 3,000 children had already been approved to travel to the United States before the program was closed, Roberta Jacobson, special assistant to the president and the coordinator for the southern border, told reporters during a White House press briefing on Wednesday.
