Biden administraton expands program allowing Central American minors to immigrate legally to US

The Biden administration says it will expand a program to allow tens of thousands of Central America children and teens to come legally to the United States.

The plan, announced Tuesday, revives of the Obama-era Central American Minors program, according to CBS News. 

The administration says the program is designed to deter those coming from such Central American countries as Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua from making the potentially dangerous journey to the U.S.

The expansion also allows immigrant parents and legal guardians of the Central American minors to petition the U.S. government to reunite them in the United States.

"We are delivering on our promise to promote safe, orderly, and humane migration from Central America through this expansion of legal pathways to seek humanitarian protection in the United States," Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement Tuesday.