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U.S. imposes visa ban on charter flight executive aiding illegal migration from Nicaragua

The Biden administration is continuing to target charter flight companies with visa restrictions over their profiting of flying migrants to Nicaragua before they start their trek to the U.S. southern border. File Photo by Mark Otte/Texas Army National Guard/UPI
The Biden administration is continuing to target charter flight companies with visa restrictions over their profiting of flying migrants to Nicaragua before they start their trek to the U.S. southern border. File Photo by Mark Otte/Texas Army National Guard/UPI | License Photo

June 14 (UPI) -- The Biden administration has again imposed visa restrictions an an executive of a charter flight company as it continues to target those facilitating illegal migration from Nicaragua.

The unnamed executive of a charter flight transportation company is the latest person to be hit with an entry ban since November when the State Department announced its new policy to punish those behind such companies offering flights at exorbitant prices to transport migrants to Nicaragua where they start their trek toward the U.S. southern border.

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"Companies are preying on vulnerable migrants by operating services designed primarily to facilitate irregular migration to the United States," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement, describing the visa restrictions as a measure to to promote accountability.

"No one should profit from vulnerable migrants -- not smugglers, private companies, or public officials."

The policy was announced in November, but expanded it to include ground and maritime transportation companies in February. Last month, the State Department hit executives of several Colombian transportation companies moving migrants by sea.

"We will continue to take steps to impose visa restrictions against unscrupulous transportation company owners, executives, and senior officials as part of our broader campaign to eliminate such exploitative practices within and beyond the Western Hemisphere, in collaboration with partners in government and in the private sector," Miller said.

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President Joe Biden has been plagued by criticism over his handling of the border during his tenure in the White House as he has been trying to tackle a surge in migrants illegally entering the country since the repealing of strict border polices following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden has instituted a series of measures to address the issues, which have seemingly contributed to a drop in migrants illegally entering the United States from a record monthly high of more than 300,000 in December to fewer than 180,000 in April, the lowest number of encounters for that month since 2021.

Last week, Biden announce a new executive action that will deny entry to migrants who enter via the southern border between ports of entry if the seven-day average of daily encounters exceeds 2,500, with humanitarian exceptions in place.

However, it has attracted lawsuits from immigration advocates and criticism both sides of the political aisle, with Republicans stating it is too little too late and Democrats voicing concern over its implications for asylum seekers.

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