Mexico confident U.S. will expand humanitarian access for Venezuelans

Venezuelan asylum seeking migrants who were expelled back to Mexico from El Paso, Texas, U.S., under new migration enforcement rules from the Biden Administration, are pictured in their makeshift encampment by the Paso del Norte International Bridge in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Paul Ratje

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The U.S. government is likely to increase the number of Venezuelans to which it grants humanitarian access under a recent migrant accord, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Wednesday.

Under a bilateral plan announced last Wednesday, Washington said it would grant up to 24,000 Venezuelans humanitarian access to the United States by air, while enabling U.S. officials to expel to Mexico those caught trying to cross illegally by land.