The Biden-Harris administration has recently decided to suspend one of its controversial immigration programs after an internal report revealed widespread fraud, it was reported on Thursday. Fox News Digital report.
The Administration’s CHNV program allows 30,000 nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and their immediate families to immigrate to the United States each month.
Fox News Digital reported that the Department of Homeland Security suspended the program in mid-July after a report prepared by its Fraud Detection and Homeland Security Agency found fraudulent activity in many applications by beneficiary sponsors (people already living in the U.S.).
To be eligible for the program, applicants must have a sponsor living in the U.S. and pass a Department of Homeland Security vetting process. They must also not have previously attempted to enter the country illegally. If approved, beneficiaries fly into the U.S. with permission to live in the country for two years and eligible to work.
DHS told the news outlet that it suspended the program “out of an abundance of caution” while it reviews applications.
“The Department of Homeland Security has screening mechanisms in place to detect and prevent fraud and abuse in the immigration process. The Department of Homeland Security takes abuse of the process very seriously,” a Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Where fraudulent activity is identified, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will investigate and litigate cases in immigration court and file criminal charges with the Department of Justice.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, DHS is suspending the issuance of advance travel authorizations to new beneficiaries while it reviews sponsors’ applications. DHS plans to resume processing applications as soon as possible and with appropriate safeguards in place,” the spokesperson added.
According to Fox News Digital, the internal report found that the same Social Security numbers, addresses and phone numbers were used hundreds of times in sponsorship applications. Federation for American Immigration Reformshowed that 100,948 forms were submitted by 3,218 consecutive sponsors who appeared on at least 20 forms.
In some cases, the report said, sponsors used phone numbers of dead people, warehouse addresses and non-existent zip codes.
Despite the startling findings, the Department of Homeland Security maintained that applicants are “thoroughly screened and vetted prior to their arrival in the United States.”
“The multi-layered screening and vetting process for pre-travel authorization is separate from the screening of donors who are based in the United States,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “The Department of Homeland Security has not identified any concerns regarding the screening and vetting of donors.”
“This shows that the administration is willing to do whatever it takes to admit as many illegal immigrants as possible, even at the risk of putting public safety at risk,” FAIR spokesman Ira Mellman told the news outlet.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) released a statement reacting to the Department of Homeland Security’s recent decision to suspend the program.
“This certification by the Biden-Harris Administration validates the warnings we’ve been making about the illegal CHNV mass parole program,” Green said. “It also exposes how administration officials, like impeached Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, lied about the quality and scope of the vetting process for not only illegal immigrants seeking entry, but also those who seek to assist them. We issued subpoenas last year to compel documents related to the program, and while DHS has partially complied, it has failed to turn over certain documents and communications related to the program.”
Green called for the program to be stopped immediately.
“This is exactly what happens when an administration creates an illegal mass parole program to avoid the political embarrassment and bad publicity of crossing the border,” Green added.
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