WASHINGTON — After Friday’s State of the Union address, a group of House Republicans called on the Biden administration to close the program that has allowed more than 320,000 immigrants into the United States without having to cross the southern border illegally. He demanded that it be terminated immediately. .
Rep. Russell Frey (R-South Carolina), along with 22 other Republicans, made the request in a letter to Troy Miller, acting director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). recent reports The Center for Immigration Studies advocates for immigration reductions and is suing for records about the program.
“Today we express grave concern about the Biden administration’s actions to airlift approximately 320,000 illegal immigrants from airports in Latin America to 43 cities across the United States,” said Frey, a member of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committee. I wrote this letter for you.”
“These secret flights further exacerbated the effects of an already historic crisis on our southern border,” the letter said.
“We urge Congress and the American people to provide information on where these illegal immigrants are being sent and immediately end this practice.”
The letter specifically asks for data on the destinations of migrants, as well as information on government costs and the personnel responsible for overseeing them.
Biden, 81, said in his annual address to Congress on Thursday night that he would shorten the asylum process from “six to eight years” to “six weeks” by increasing resources and helping the U.S. and Mexico He said he wanted to curb the border crisis. “It’s very unlikely that people will pay that money and go out of their way to come out there knowing they’re going to get kicked out right away.”
House Republicans have accused Biden of sparking the migrant crisis by ending former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” plan, which required asylum seekers to wait for asylum decisions south of the border.
Republicans also say the “parole” program launched by Biden last year to divert asylum seekers from the border may be illegal and is resulting in a smaller influx of migrants than the number of border crossings recorded by CBP. They claim that this is a way to falsify the ledger by making it look like this.
In January 2023, the Biden administration announced that it would allow 30,000 asylum seekers a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela into the United States if they pass background checks and have a U.S. sponsor.
As of December, according to federal data, 327,000 asylum seekers People from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela entered the country through the parole program: 67,000 Cubans, 126,000 Haitians, 53,000 Nicaraguans, and 81,000 Venezuelans.
Migrants entering the United States on commercial flights or arriving at regular border crossings are processed using a mobile phone app called CBP One. The app will also be used for family reunification programs that allow immigrants to enter the United States and reunite with relatives.
The Unified Program is open to citizens of Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras.
In total, CBP says: on the information page“Using CBP One, we successfully scheduled 413,300 people to arrive at ports of entry. The top nationalities processed were Venezuelans, Mexicans, and Haitians.”
The practice of allowing immigrants to bypass the border has also not slowed, as the vast majority of illegal immigrants are allowed into the United States to await asylum decisions.
After 180 days, asylum seekers in the United States have the right to obtain a work permit.
In December, more than 302,000 people, the size of Pittsburgh’s population, were arrested for illegally entering the country from Mexico, a new monthly record.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in January that more than 85% of those apprehended for illegal border crossings were released to the United States, up from 71% in October and 74% in November. .
The huge backlog in asylum application processing means that it could take nearly 10 years for an actual asylum application to be decided.
In fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30, about 2.5 million people, roughly the population of Chicago, were apprehended for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, in addition to an estimated 670,000 “fugitives” who evaded authorities. It was done.
Nearly 2.4 million people were apprehended along the border in fiscal year 2022, up from 1.7 million in fiscal year 2021 and setting a new record.
