• The Biden administration’s plan to crack down at the border in exchange for some expanded legal pathways of entry for migrants received a generally tepid response from Hispanic Democrats, though some in the group were incensed that they were sidelined in favor of developing a policy many worry treads too closely to Trump-era immigration efforts.

The Biden administration announced Thursday it would expand Title 42 limitations that allow them to turn away asylum-seekers, pairing it with a pledge to allow some 30,000 Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians into the U.S. through a separate program.

• Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), in her first major statement as chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), praised the administration’s expanded legal pathways but expressed disappointment with the Title 42 expansion at the border.

“As a nation of immigrants, we must have a humane, efficient, and professional immigration system that reflects our American values,” Barragán said. 

• “The Congressional Hispanic Caucus welcomes the Administration’s efforts to expand legal pathways for refugees and asylum seekers but is disappointed with the expansion of the failed Trump-era Title 42 policy that has denied asylum seekers their rights to due process for far too long.”

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), a former CHC chair, released his own statement later Friday, issuing a strongly worded condemnation of the administration’s plans that contrasted with the careful balance adopted by Barragán.

• “I am deeply disappointed to see the Biden administration extending failed Trump-era immigration policies that exacerbate chaos and irregular migration at the Southern border,” Castro said.

Castro said he “appreciates” the administration’s expanded legal pathway, but panned the transit ban and parole requirements “willfully dismissive of the realities facing asylum seekers.”