An estimated 3,000 young Central American migrants who were already approved by the U.S. government to reunite with parents in the United States, but were stranded when the Trump administration abruptly ended the Obama-era program, could get another chance, Biden officials announced Wednesday.
The Biden administration is restarting the Central American Minors program, which enabled nearly 5,000 vulnerable youths in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to apply from the region and join parents who were in the United States with legal status, according to the State Department.
Amid a surge in unaccompanied minors from Central America coming to the border under the Obama administration, the policy was intended to discourage children and families from making the dangerous journey north to the U.S.-Mexico border. But in one of President Trump’s first moves in office, he secretly shut down the program, stranding more than 2,700 children already approved and in processing, then officially terminated the program months later.
A federal judge in 2019 ordered the Trump administration to resume processing some applications.
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