The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
March 14, 2023

Biden Extends Relief to Ukrainian Refugees as Venezuelan Asylees Are Pushed Back from Border
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Biden administration is extending humanitarian relief for thousands
of Ukrainian refugees who fled Russia's invasion and were processed
along the Mexican border, allowing them to remain in the United States
beyond the program's initial one-year limit. Similar relief for tens of
thousands of Afghan refugees is scheduled to expire in the coming
months, but it's unclear whether that relief will be extended, even as
Afghanistan is facing a worsening humanitarian crisis following the
Taliban's return to power in 2021. Advocates have accused Biden of
hypocrisy in his treatment of Ukrainians compared to most other asylum
seekers and refugees.

In Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, hundreds of asylum seekers, mostly from
Venezuela, were blocked by barbed wire and riot police Sunday as they
tried to cross into El Paso, Texas, to finally apply for relief. Some
reported they were pepper-sprayed. Many of the asylees have waited in
Mexico for months facing extremely dangerous living conditions.

Camila Cruz: "Please, we want an answer. The customs app does not work.
I am alone. We are alone here. We have been robbed and extorted, and we
have no answer. We just want to get in to have a future and help our
families, nothing else."



.