At the same time the Biden administration is making moves to beg Venezuela’s dictator Maduro for oil, DHS announced a new program concerning illegal migrants from Venezuela on Wednesday. Instead of being released into the United States after being apprehended by Border Patrol, they will now be returned to Mexico and held for processing. The goal is to process the migrants to allow 24,000 Venezuelans to enter the United States.

The arrangement is modeled after Biden administration program that has allowed nearly 70,000 Ukrainians to enter the United States over the past year with a legal status known as humanitarian parole. Applicants must have a person or organization willing to sponsor them financially, and present themselves at U.S. consulates abroad, not at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Venezuelans approved for the program will be allowed to fly to the United States and seek faster approval for work authorization, instead of attempting a dangerous overland journey.

Hmm. An agreement with Mexico that keeps illegal migrants in that country until they are able to be processed. This sounds like Trump’s Remain in Mexico agreement, doesn’t it? That program, Migrant Protection Protocols or Remain in Mexico, was fought through the courts by Biden. He’s obsessed with doing away with anything Trump put in place, though his programs worked and migrants got the message to not come. It was ended after some legal battles by a Supreme Court ruling on June 30, 2022. So, now Biden has to admit the program had its merits (he won’t) and puts in place a program very similar, only this one is specifically for Venezuelans. Maduro won’t accept them back so DHS has been turning them loose in the United States. Venezuelans currently make up the largest number of migrants crossing the border.

The pressure from Governors Abbott, Ducey, and DeSantis is working. I say that because DHS is finally doing something to address the overcrowding at the southern border, albeit a limited action, and because in DHS’s statement it mentions easing the pressure on cities and states that receive migrants. Venezuelans were the easiest group to target for the new agreement.

“The actions the United States and Mexico are announcing today are intended to address the most acute irregular migration and help ease pressure on the cities and states receiving these individuals,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

“Effective immediately, Venezuelans who enter the United States between ports of entry, without authorization, will be returned to Mexico,” the statement said. “At the same time, the United States and Mexico are reinforcing their coordinated enforcement operations to target human smuggling organizations and bring them to justice.”

The agreement is that the U.S. will accept 24,000 Venezuelans to come to the U.S. by air. Mexico agrees to discourage Venezuelans from heading for the border using Title 42, the measure recommended by the CDC during the pandemic. Biden also did away with that process but is still quietly using it to some degree. Venezuelans currently in Mexico can apply for entry into the U.S. under the new humanitarian program. Venezuelans who are new arrivals in Mexico will be detained and possibly deported.

It all sounds somewhat confusing. It’s being announced now, I would guess, because we are less than a month away from the mid-term elections and Democrats are about to get shellacked. The Biden border crisis is a top issue across the country now that border governors have brought attention to the chaos, drug cartels, and humanitarian crises. The abundance of fentanyl and the deaths the drug is causing is freaking out every parent in America, rightly so. The blame for the fentanyl crisis can be put directly on Joe Biden. The only media coverage the Biden border crisis was getting up until very recently was from the reporting Fox News Channel does from the border every day. Kids are dying from fentanyl poisoning and drug cartels are marketing directly to young buyers by marketing the pills in rainbow colors like candy.

If this was not meant to distract from Biden’s underwater polling numbers and the bad economic news that just keeps coming every week, the timing of announcing such an agreement with Mexico would have been different. Why not do the deal and announce it a month ago? Two months ago? Venezuelans have made up the largest groups of migrants for weeks. It was a political calculation by DHS, that’s why. Biden is dragging Democrat candidates down and no one wants him on the campaign trail. It’s embarrassing for the White House.

Frankly, I don’t care. I care that Abbott and Ducey and DeSantis finally got through to DHS that they mean business. Migrant buses are not going to stop until DHS does its job. This is a baby step. I write about the Biden border crisis frequently, not because it’s a fun topic to cover, but because it is necessary. Media coverage was non-existent, except for FNC’s coverage, until only recently when the migrant buses began rolling into D.C. and NYC. Suddenly cameras appeared and we watched as the migrants were welcomed by New York officials. D.C. hasn’t been so organized in its welcoming committees.

This announcement will also bump a really devastating story against DHS that emerged Wednesday. Secretary Mayorkas knew all along that Whipgate was a phony story. He let the Border Patrol agents take the heat anyway and their reputations were dragged through the mud for doing nothing wrong. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Mayorkas, along with Jen Psaki and others who jumped to conclusions and proclaimed the agents guilty before any investigation was even launched all owe the agents an apology.

One more thing to think about. When Ron DeSantis jumped into transporting migrants away from the border, Democrats noticed. They are nervous that he will run for president in 2024. DeSantis is in a re-election campaign now and will win it. Then all eyes will be on him and his potential presidential bid. The press did all it could to try to bruise him during Hurricane Ian coverage but he has handled that tragic natural disaster like a champ. A sheriff in Texas who is a Democrat activist is launching a criminal investigation into DeSantis’ participation in the migrant flight to Martha’s Vineyard. DeSantis admits to financing the two planes that flew 48 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard and Wednesday Treasury Department’s inspector general announced an investigation into whether or not DeSantis improperly used COVID relief funds to pay for them. Coincidence? C’mon, man. Look for Team Biden to pull out every stop to do what they can to keep DeSantis from running for president in 2024.