US considers referring migrants in transit to refugee programs in Italy and Greece
The US government is considering referring migrants in transit in Latin America to refugee resettlement programs in Italy and Greece, CBS News reported.
The plan, which has not yet been approved or announced, would add the collaboration of these two countries to the Safe Mobility program, a platform created by the Biden Administration last year in alliance with the governments of Guatemala, Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador.
Italy and Greece would accept about 500 people referred under this agreement, the American media reported.
Safe Mobility offices refer people on the move on the continent to refugee resettlement programs in the US, Canada and Spain.
The European country has received about 200 Latin American migrants, referred from the Safe Mobility office in Costa Rica, according to available data.
More than 115 thousand people have registered in these offices. However, only about 3,200 have been admitted to the United States.
The office that has received the most applications has been that of Colombia, (72 thousand registered), followed by Guatemala, (17 thousand 250) and Costa Rica, (6 thousand 790).
From Ecuador, where the safe mobility program began operating in October last year, some 340 refugees have traveled to the United States.
Joe Biden’s Administration promotes “legal routes” for migration to the US, while at the same time it has restricted access to asylum on the border with Mexico.
The American continent registers high figures of movement of people, with more than 21 million displaced people, according to UNHCR data.
Hundreds of thousands of people have arrived so far this year at the southern border of the United States, the world’s leading economy, in search of better opportunities and fleeing social and political crises in Venezuela, Nicaragua or Haiti. Washington (EFE)
June 7, 2024
Newsessentials Blog 
Posted on June 10, 2024
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