Biden-Harris’ reckless restart of a fraud-ridden immigration program

In late August, the Biden-Harris administration's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resumed a chaotic immigration program that it had suspended a month earlier over fraud concerns.

In mid-July, an internal Department of Homeland Security report found widespread fraud in the CHNV (Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, Venezuelan) parole program.

The program allows up to 30,000 nationals from those four countries to enter the US each month if sponsored by a person or entity in the US. But the Department of Homeland Security discovered that thousands of those sponsors had given false Social Security numbers, home addresses and phone numbers.

According to the report, more than 100,000 sponsorship applications were filled out by just 3,218 sponsors. The same credentials were used multiple times, in some cases hundreds of times. Of the 1,000 most frequently used numbers on sponsorship applications, 24 belonged to people who were deceased. Nearly 3,000 applications used sponsor zip codes that did not exist.

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Despite the massive amount of fraud, the Department of Homeland Security reinstated the CHNV program just a few weeks after suspending it, and claims that additional vetting processes are now in place. But the fraud is only a symptom of a larger problem: even if the department had genuinely tightened the application process, the program itself is fundamentally flawed.

Presidential administrations have the authority to admit foreign nationals temporarily into the U.S. (a process known as parole) while they await full admission to the U.S. This authority is intended to be used in certain cases, such as for emergency humanitarian reasons.

But the Biden-Harris administration has abused this power, making unilateral decisions on immigration without the knowledge of Congress.

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The CHNV program is a classic example of parole abuse: without congressional authorization, it allowed approximately 500,000 additional foreign nationals to enter the United States at a time when the number of migrants encountered at the border was already skyrocketing.

Although parole is temporary, the Biden-Harris Administration is determined to ensure that parolees remain in the country. Parolees know that if they are admitted through the CHNV program, they can stay in the country permanently.

This program is a stain on national security. If fraud is rife in sponsorship applications and the government doesn't bother to keep track of the aliens who are admitted, surely there is a flaw in the initial vetting process for parolees.

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We've seen a steady increase in encounters with people on terrorist watch lists at the border under the Biden-Harris administration. We know that bad actors are taking advantage of this administration's disastrous immigration policies, and this fraud-plagued parole program will be no exception.

The CHNV program also raises humanitarian concerns: Instead of issuing parole on a case-by-case basis, as Congress intended, the Biden-Harris parole system is bloated with applications from anyone seeking admission, meaning people with urgent and extreme humanitarian needs cannot navigate the system.

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My office recently handled two cases of children with leukemia who were denied parole due to emergency medical circumstances, consistent with the original purpose of parole. They were denied parole because the system was flooded with aliens who did not truly need parole and the Biden-Harris Administration failed to prioritize emergency cases.

Recklessly reopening the CHNV program would harm all involved. It is not the ideal immigration solution the Administration is touting. I recently wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, along with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), urging them to end the program. We explained that the program runs counter to Congressional intent, its inadequate vetting system invites fraud, and poses national security risks.

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In response, the Biden-Harris Administration must do more than cancel this flawed program. President Biden and Border Secretary Harris must take action to solve the border and immigration crisis they created, including by ending the illegal abuse of parole.

Until then, the number of illegal border crossings, encounters with terrorist watch lists, and migrant disasters will continue to rise.

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