The Biden Administration Expands Access to CAM
Eligibility to petition for children to join is no longer limited to lawfully present parents
By Nayla Rush on June 15, 2021
In an effort to resolve the border crisis, the Biden administration is reviving and expanding the Central American Minors Refugee/Parole program launched in 2014 (and expanded in 2016) by the Obama administration, and terminated in 2017 by the Trump administration. It enabled certain Central Americans in the U.S. to petition to bring their children here, the thinking being that if there were more legal avenues to come fewer unaccompanied minors would come to the border.
On March 10, the Biden administration announced it was “restarting the Central American Minors Program” in two phases: the first would process eligible applications that were closed when the program was terminated in 2017, and the second would begin to accept new applications, with updated guidance to follow.
The “updated guidance” arrived today. A “greater number of qualifying individuals” will now be able to access the program. That expansion of those who can take advantage of the program has two parts. First, it can be used not only by parents who are in the U.S., but now also by legal guardians. Second, more parents or legal guardians are now eligible. Originally, they had to be "lawfully present" in the United States, meaning on Permanent Resident Status, Temporary Protected Status, Parole, Deferred Action, Deferred Enforced Departure, or Withdrawal of Removal; today's updated guidance expands that to include those who have a pending asylum application or a pending U visa petition filed before May 15, 2021.
https://cis.org/Rush/Biden-Administration-Expands-Access-CAM
