The Biden-Harris administration has decided to resume a mass parole program that was suspended after revelations of widespread fraud, but immigration hardliners say the vetting process remains deeply flawed.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is resuming a migration program that allows foreign nationals to apply for asylum in their home countries and, if approved, enter the U.S. at various airports. The CHNV program has allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the U.S., a spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday. But border security hardliners warn that the program's vetting procedures have not been sufficiently updated since it was suspended last month after widespread fraud was discovered. (Related article: Panama arrests illegal immigrants bound for the US, deports them and arrests terrorism suspects)
“My committee has been negotiating with the department since this suspension was announced, and the results have been tough,” said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green. Thursday's statement Responding to news of the program's resumption, the department said, “Instead of eliminating a clearly flawed program, it has allowed it to continue without rooting out fraudulent activity or putting in place adequate safeguards to prevent exploitation by U.S. sponsors.”
Originally Release The CHNV program was implemented for Venezuelans in October 2022. Later expansion They are expected to include Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians in January 2023. The parole initiative allows foreign nationals who have not previously entered the country illegally and who pass other vetting processes to gain two-year permission to enter the U.S. and work.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 10: Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, prepares before the start of the House Homeland Security Committee hearing, “Midwest Chaos: How Secretary Mayorkas's Failure of Leadership Has Impacted States,” at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 10, 2024. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Green called the CHNV program a “giant shell game” that allowed 30,000 foreigners who would not otherwise be allowed into the country to easily enter the country instead of crossing the border illegally.
In early August, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed it had suspended the program following an internal audit. The report stated: Published An investigation conducted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) identified numerous red flags, including the fact that 100,948 CHNV forms were filled out by just 3,218 sponsors, 24 of the 1,000 most commonly used Social Security numbers by sponsors belonged to deceased individuals, and an IP address located in Tijuana, Mexico was used more than 1,300 times.
Matt O'Brien, research director at the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), told DCNF that CHNV programs are inherently prone to fraud because of their reliance on sponsors and foreign governments.
“The purported improvements made by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) do nothing to improve screening,” O'Brien told DCNF. “The entire structure of the program facilitates fraud because it relies on unverifiable 'sponsorship' relationships and places no enforceable obligations on sponsors or beneficiaries.”
“Second, and perhaps more importantly, we cannot vet Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans or Nicaraguans,” O'Brien continued. “None of these countries have a reliable, functioning records system, and none of them share information with the United States.”
Since the program began in January 2023, it has so far paroled about 500,000 foreign nationals into the United States. According to Customs and Border Protection. There are more than 1.6 million foreign nationals waiting for admission through the CHNV program.
CHNV will reopen with enhanced procedures to address the issues that initially halted the program, including manually screening sponsors in small numbers. Sponsors suspected of committing fraud in the program will continue to be referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for investigation.
But the House Homeland Security Committee said the Department of Homeland Security has not explained what improvements were made to the now-restarted program.
An American Airlines plane lands at LaGuardia International Airport, the day after a global IT outage in New York on July 20, 2024. (Photo: KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
“Although DHS has resumed issuing travel permits, it has not provided the Committee with any additional information about how it intends to prevent fraud,” a House Homeland Committee spokesperson told DCNF.
The spokesman also noted that the Department of Homeland Security had failed to respond to the committee's requests for information and documents following the allegations of massive fraud.
FAIR also said the program should be scrapped.
“The Department of Homeland Security has already announced it has reopened CHNV without providing any very vague assurances that it has fixed the problem,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. statementNoting that the Department of Homeland Security has not explained how it plans to vet each sponsor, he said, “It's no wonder the American public is very skeptical.”
“There is only one way to resolve the Biden-Harris CHNV program's myriad problems,” Stein continued. “As House Speaker Mike Johnson tweeted earlier this month after FAIR exposed its rampant fraud, 'Stop it for good.'”
DHS did not respond to DCNF's request for comment.
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