The Mexican government applauded the new migration rules announced Thursday, Jan. 5, by U.S. President Joe Biden, which will allow up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to migrate to the United States each month.

The Mexican government learned with “pleasure” the announcement of “new actions by the United States to increase mobility measures for workers,” tweeted Roberto Velasco, an official of the Mexican Foreign Ministry. He added that this program was a long-standing request of the Mexican government “to achieve orderly, safe, regular and humane immigration to the region”.

This will reduce the risks for migrants who seek to cross the border irregularly. The new quota of 30,000 monthly entries applies to legal workers who have a sponsor in the United States. Those who enter illegally still face deportation. “It’s safe, it’s humane, and it’s working,” said Joe Biden, who is scheduled to travel to Mexico on Sunday, Jan. 8, after a visit to the border city of El Paso, Texas.

A similar plan was launched in October for 24,000 sponsored Venezuelans, who are allowed to immigrate by air with a formal application. Velasco said the program has resulted in a 94 percent reduction in irregular flows, adding that it allows migrants to avoid using traffickers to cross.

Immigration will be a key issue at the upcoming summit between Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, as the U.S. still recorded more than 200,000 arrests in November at its southern border.