Scoop: How Sen. Bob Menendez is stopping a Biden border plan

[Judi Lynn]

Stef W. Kight

enator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, speaks during a committee hearing Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is preventing the Biden administration from ramping up deportations of migrants from Venezuela back to their home country before they reach the U.S., Axios has learned.

Why it matters: It's an example of how politically sensitive immigration policy can be. President Biden is being boxed in by a senator from his own party who has blasted the administration's strict approach to migration at the southwest border.

How we got here: For months, top Biden officials have trying to find a way to pay Guatemala to help its government deport more Venezuelans before they migrate into Mexico or the U.S., according to three sources familiar with the discussions.

Frosty diplomatic relations with Venezuela have made it nearly impossible for the U.S. to deport Venezuelan migrants on its own.

As with most changes to how federal dollars are spent, the plan relies on congressional approval.

Menendez, who chairs the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, refuses to green light the idea.

More:
https://www.axios.com/2023/06/08/bob-menendez-biden-border-immigration-venezuela

(Menendez, a Cuban American, has always been totally bound up with the foreign policy demands concerning Latin America required by the right-wing Cuban "exile" community in South Florida and New Jersey, no exceptions. While Democrats have always supported Latin American independence, with notable proponents through the years, unfortunately occassional Democrats like Menendez in New Jersey or Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, in Florida, have always marched lock-step with the Cuban hard-right "exile" (who were pro-Batista in Cuba) community. )