The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it would offer temporary legal status for more than 470,000 Venezuelan immigrants in the United States. This announcement came as U.S. officials struggled to deal with an influx of migrants at the border in Texas, which has stretched the holding capacity to its limit.

Biden officials informed reporters that Venezuelans entering the United States before July 31 will be eligible for temporary protection status. This designation will protect them from deportation, and expedite their ability to get work permits in the United States. This announcement marked the largest expansion to temporary protected status ever. According to government data, more Venezuelans than any other nationality have been granted the designation.

Officials from New York, Chicago and many other cities in the north of the United States where migrants are straining shelter and social services have asked Biden to speed up work permits for newcomers so they can support themselves.

During a decade of political unrest and economic hardship in Venezuela, more than 6 million Venezuelans left their country. Since 2021, more than 500,000 Venezuelans have been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. This is the largest Venezuelan migration in U.S. History.

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In a press release, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated that “temporary protected status protects individuals who are already in the United States from being removed when conditions in their country of origin prevent them from safely returning.” The designation is valid for 18 months, and DHS can renew it.

Republican critics of President Obama’s border policy say that the administration’s increased use of temporary protection status encourages illegal crossings.

DHS reports that approximately 243,000 Venezuelans are in a temporary legal status due to a prior designation. The new protection will include an additional 472,000 Venezuelans. This includes those who arrived prior to August, thanks to Biden’s increased use of an immigration authority called parole.

Biden administration officials have also been pressured by Democratic lawmakers to give legal status to Venezuelans in order to ease tensions with New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The mayor of New York City has stated that many of the over 60,000 migrants who are currently in shelters are Venezuelan.

Rep. Daniel S. Goldman, D-N.Y., whose district includes a part of the city was among the Democrats who applauded a “much-needed executive action” which will allow Venezuelans to “settle in our great City, fill the jobs that the Business Community has available, pay taxes and alleviate the unbearable financial burden for the State and City.”

Biden officials told reporters that they would expedite work permits for newcomers, and expand the conditional release program. This includes GPS monitoring for families and curfews to protect migrants while waiting for a decision regarding their asylum claim.

As administration officials announced measures to address the strains caused by the migrant inflow on U.S. Cities, they were faced with a new wave of migrants along the southern border. Illegal crossings had risen to their highest level since May.

In recent days, the number of migrants riding freight trains to cross the southern border of the United States has pushed U.S. agents to the limit and the detention capacity is at its maximum. This creates an emergency situation that overwhelms Biden’s latest efforts to stop illegal crossings.

Officials said that another 2,000 migrants were in Mexico preparing for the crossing. Border agents gathered the men under the international bridge to avoid the heat of the daytime, as the U.S. holding cell capacity was full.

Eagle Pass mayor Rolando Salinas declared a state-of-emergency. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, a three-year old boy drowned after being swept downstream while crossing the river with his family.

According to three Homeland Security officials, who spoke anonymously because they weren’t authorized to speak to reporters, many of the migrants arriving at Texas are quickly processed and released to the United States because border facilities are full and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities 95 percent full.

Families clambered out of train cars in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, and urged U.S. Border Patrol agents to let them through the gate.

The Biden Administration has encouraged migrants who travel through Mexico to schedule an appointment through the mobile app CBP One to request asylum at the U.S. Border.

Venezuelans who arrived in Ciudad Juarez Wednesday reported that relatives who had recently crossed the border told them not to wait.

What is the purpose of the CBP appointment?” My brother surrendered and got through. “We know of too many people who have gotten through without an appointment,” Yonder Linarez said, 28. He was traveling with 10 family members.

Linarez told reporters he intended to cross the border on Wednesday night and surrender himself to U.S. border agents at the border wall.

He said, “We tried it but it took too much time.” You think that not having an appointment will stop us? We’ve already endured the jungle and robbery to get here.

Linarez claimed to be part of a group that included nearly 1,000 migrants, who rode on a train from Mexico City all the way to the U.S. Border for three days.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), said that the Biden Administration had removed concertina fence in Eagle Pass, which was placed by the State. He compared this decision to “opening up the floodgates for illegal immigration.”

Abbott wrote: “I immediately deployed additional Texas National Guard to repel any illegal crossings & installed more razor wire.”

In a speech delivered in Iowa on Tuesday, Donald Trump, the former president and Republican presidential candidate of 2024, promised to put an end to “the nation wrecking catastrophe at our southern border.”

Biden officials announced that the Pentagon will mobilize 800 active duty personnel to the Southern Border to relieve the strain on U.S. Agents, in addition to the 2,500 National Guard soldiers deployed there.