First appearance on FOXA senior House committee investigating the Biden administration’s decision to freeze a controversial program that allows migrants to fly or travel in person to the United States after discovering fraud within the program said it was “deeply concerned” by the revelations.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting documents and correspondence regarding the suspension of parole procedures for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV), saying the explanations were “completely unsatisfactory.”
Fox News Digital first reported that the Biden administration in July suspended the issuance of advance travel authorizations for the program, which allows 30,000 nationals from those countries to travel to the U.S. each month and enter the country legally starting in early 2023 under the administration’s parole system.
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Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is investigating the suspension of the CHNV program. (Graham Sloane/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital at the time that it had stopped issuing the permits “out of an abundance of caution” and confirmed that it takes abuse of the process very seriously.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the Department of Homeland Security is suspending the issuance of advance travel authorizations to new beneficiaries while it reviews their applications. DHS plans to resume processing applications as soon as possible after taking appropriate safeguards,” the spokesperson said.
The suspension came after an internal report made public in part by the Federation for American Immigration Reform found that 100,948 applications had been filled out by 3,218 consecutive sponsors (people whose numbers appeared on 20 or more applications).
They also found that 24 of the 1,000 most frequently used numbers belonged to people who had died, while 100 addresses were used between 124 and 739 times on more than 19,000 forms. These addresses included warehouses. The focus was on issues with the applications of donors, not the applications of the program beneficiaries themselves.
House Republicans said they were briefed on Aug. 5 but that officials “did not adequately answer even basic questions, such as confirmation of the dates parole proceedings were suspended, the fraud indicators the Department uses to vet sponsors, the sponsorship thresholds that raise fraud concerns, the Department’s plans for tracking upcoming parole expiration dates, or the current backlog of CHNV travel authorizations awaiting Department of State approval.”
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“The Committee finds itself completely unsatisfied with the Aug. 5 report,” said the lawmakers, including Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) and Rep. Dan Bishop (R-Louisiana).
It also said documents obtained so far show officials were instructed to allow advocates to sponsor up to 10 separate applications before submitting them for investigation into possible fraud.
“The Committee is deeply concerned that such actions have reduced the level of scrutiny of potential sponsors’ applications and may have enabled widespread abuse of the CHNV parole program, as documented in the Department’s internal investigation report,” they said.
Lawmakers are requesting uncensored copies of the internal reports, all internal communications about misconduct within the program, documentation of the program’s suspension, documents related to the date its accreditation was suspended, information about the current case backlog, and documentation of anti-fraud measures currently in use for other parole programs.
DHS told Fox it responds directly to Congressional communications through official channels and that “the Department of Homeland Security will continue to respond to Congressional oversight.”
Biden administration freezes controversial migrant flight program after fraud revelations
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks to media about public safety plans for Super Bowl week, in Las Vegas, February 7, 2024. (Candice Ward/Getty Images)
The program, long a contentious topic among Republicans, was initially announced for Venezuelans in October 2022 and expanded to other nationalities in January 2023, and would allow migrants to receive work permits and two-year authorizations if they pass biometric and background checks and have a sponsor. The program itself does not arrange flights, and migrants are responsible for their own travel.
Republicans argue the system is an abuse of parole powers, which are allowed for use for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public interest.
After the suspension of Congress was made clear, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said “Congress should be shut down permanently.”
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DHS stressed to Fox News Digital that CHNV recipients are “thoroughly screened and vetted prior to their arrival in the United States.”
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“The multi-layered screening and vetting process for advance travel authorization is separate from the screening of beneficiaries in the United States,” the spokesperson continued. “The Department of Homeland Security has not identified any concerns regarding the screening and vetting of beneficiaries.”
