Secretary of State Blinken discusses U.S. immigration policy as Title 42 ends

Interview

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Well, first, it is important to emphasize that this is unprecedented, because we are facing around the world more people on the move than at any time in recorded history, displaced from their homes for one reason or another.

And that is powerfully true in our own atmosphere. And, of course, that brings them in our direction. We had been working on this for literally day one of this administration. And the most important thing is this. It is getting a shared sense of responsibility across this hemisphere for the challenge of migration.

And we have been doing that. President Biden has been leading that effort. We brought countries together in Los Angeles at the Summit of the Americas. And out of that came the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration where countries are stepping up to do things that they weren't doing before to help all of us get control of migration in the hemisphere.

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Some is long-term, but of course, many other things are immediate.

For example, just in recent months, we struck an agreement with Mexico that's very important, where Mexico has agreed to take 1,000 people a day who come across and don't have lawful status in the United States from four countries, from Venezuela, from Nicaragua, from Haiti, and from Cuba.

At the same time, we're working very closely with other countries to be able to repatriate people who come across unlawfully, sending them back on flights. And we're also sending the message out that, no, that the border is not open. And, on the contrary, do not put yourself in the hands of smugglers. Don't pay the exorbitant costs that come with trying to get here. Don't risk your lives, because it won't work.

And, finally, one of the new programs that we're instituting and that you will see come to fruition in the weeks ahead are something we're calling regional processing centers. This gives people an opportunity in their own countries to make a determination about whether they are eligible legally to come to the United States by one of the various lawful pathways that exist, for example, to get a work visa, to be reunited with family, to qualify as a refugee.

And making that accessible, making that available to people gives them an opportunity in their own countries to find out if they can come to the United States lawfully, instead, again, of making the incredibly hazardous journey all the way to our border, with all the dangers and all the costs that come with that, only to find out that, no, they can't get in.

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Well, this does go to the shared sense of responsibility that we're trying to build across the hemisphere.

And to the extent someone is going through a country whether there's an opportunity to seek asylum, and they haven't availed themselves of that opportunity, we're saying, you need to do that. But we're not just saying that.

We're also working with these countries to strengthen their own asylum systems, to strengthen the protections that they offer to migrants, as well as to strengthen opportunity, so that people who may choose to avail themselves of asylum in a third country have something to go to and something to look toward. So…

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No, please.

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Well, I don't want to get into -- I don't want to get into a list of countries.

But I can say for example, that, with Mexico, we're working very closely -- and we have been for some period of time -- in helping them to strengthen their own asylum system. In Mexico, for example, right now, there are in parts of the country labor shortages that they're interested in meeting through migration done lawfully.

So, if we can support that may be one opportunity for people.

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It's a -- it's, as you know, a vast country with big differences depending on where you are in the country. So a lot depends on what part of the country we're talking about.

But I cite that simply as one example of work that we're doing with countries across the hemisphere to strengthen the protections that they offer, to strengthen their own asylum systems, as well as to cooperate with us as necessary on repatriations, even as we are working to expand legal pathways to this country.

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Well, from day one, and as I -- even before day one, we have been working overtime to try to make sure that Ukraine had in its hands what it needs to defend itself against the Russian aggression.

First, when we saw it coming, we wanted to make sure that they had what they needed if it came, and, indeed, with the Stingers and Javelins that we provided going back to before the Russian aggression, they were able to repel the efforts to take Kyiv and take the whole country.

At every step along the way ever since, we have worked with now more than 50 countries to adjust, to adapt, depending on the nature of the fight, where it was, what was needed, to make sure that, again, they had what they -- what they needed. And it's a process.

And we're working literally every single day with the Ukrainians and with this coalition of countries to make sure they have support. If there are gaps, if there are shortages, they will tell us, and we will make every effort to make good on them.

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That's precisely why we have a coalition of countries that are supporting Ukraine. Different countries will do different things, depending on their own capacities, depending on their own technology, depending on what makes the most sense.

So we have provided some things uniquely to Ukraine through this process. Other countries may do things different than what we're doing. The question is, does the whole thing add up to what Ukraine needs? And we're determined that it do so. And, again, it's also…

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All of this, again, is done through a coalition and coordinated process. Secretary Austin's been leading that for many months now.

And, as I said before, it's not only the weapons systems. It's the training, because you can give someone a great weapons system. If they don't know how to use it, it's not going to do much good. It's the maintenance, because, if they don't know how to maintain it, you give it to them, it falls apart in seven days, it's not going to do you much good.

And, of course, it's understanding how to use all of these things in a cohesive and effective plan, combined arms, as it's called in the business. All of these things are what we have been working on, and we're doing it in a coordinated way. Different countries take different pieces of this.

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We are, as always, working overtime to make sure that we're protecting the information that needs to be protected, including in this instance and also more broadly.

And we have had conversations with partners around the world about this, making clear to them the importance that we attach to it. I have got to say, in the many, many meetings, engagements, trips I have been on since this -- this incident, it's almost never come up from one of our partners. In fact, I brought it up just to reassure people that we're intensely focused on this and making sure that the information that we have is protected.

But the other side of the equation is this. Allies and partners around the world know the extraordinary value of the information that we're able to develop. They know how important it's been to them. And, of course, they want to make sure that we preserve it.

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Thanks. Good to be with you.

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