First appearance on FOXRepublican lawmakers have expressed concern about a new “parole” system designed to protect illegal immigrant spouses of citizens from deportation, warning that it could lead to a surge in marriage fraud.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and obtained by Fox News Digital, 10 lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, said expanding parole “will likely lead to the expansion of existing international criminal networks used to allow foreign nationals, including individuals with ties to terrorist organizations, to enter the U.S. illegally through fraudulent marriages.”
The Biden administration announced a new process in June that allows foreign spouses who have lived in the U.S. for 10 years and are deemed not to pose a threat to public safety or national security to apply for permanent residency.
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WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 31: Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), a member of the House Oversight Committee, speaks to reporters as he departs the O’Neill House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on July 31, 2023. The committee heard closed-door testimony from Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
DHS estimates that the measure will affect about 500,000 illegal immigrants. The measure does not apply to newcomers, as they must have been in the US for 10 years by June 2024.
But lawmakers say marriage fraud is a major vector for illegal immigration and is often organized by criminal gangs.
“Marriage fraud is also a known tactic used by terrorist organizations, with members of Al Qaeda and Hezbollah using marriage fraud to allow their members to enter the United States under false pretenses of legitimacy,” they note.
“Because a criminal system already exists to combat large-scale marriage fraud against illegal immigrants, we are very concerned that the announced plan to parole certain foreign nationals based on their marital status to a U.S. citizen will only exacerbate the current problems with detecting fraudulent marriages,” they said.
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Lawmakers asked DHS how many cases of marriage fraud it identifies each year, its process for identifying fraud and whether the department expects the new parole program to lead to an increase in fraud cases.
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They also asked whether there was any consideration that some people who qualify may only be eligible because they were in a fraudulent marriage, and whether DHS plans to implement further measures to detect fraud.
The letter is the latest concern raised about the Biden administration’s use of the parole system, which Republicans say they believe the administration is abusing and that officials allow for its use on a case-by-case basis only when there are urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public interest.
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Citing a lack of funding and reforms passed by Congress, the Biden administration says it is expanding legal routes for migration as a way to bring order to the border and deter illegal immigration.
Fox News Digital has reached out to DHS for comment.
