U.S. migrant sponsorship program reaches monthly cap with 1.5 million applicants.

Over 1.5 million requests have been received by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) from individuals hoping to sponsor the entry of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, overwhelming caseworkers and jeopardizing the Biden administration's objective of reducing border crossings. USCIS can approve no more than 30,000 arrivals under the program each month, and the backlog of unresolved applications has caused significant wait times for applicants. The program has been paired with a policy of returning illegal border crossers to Mexico, which has led to a sharp drop in illegal border crossings by migrants from these four countries.