Biden pauses mass migration program after massive fraud discovered: report
The Biden administration has temporarily halted the CHNV mass-parole program — wherein migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela are flown into the country — due to a damning internal report revealing widespread fraud. The Department of Homeland Security made this decision following discoveries of abuse involving sponsor filings and misuse of social security numbers, among other discrepancies.
The CHNV program, initiated under the Biden administration, was designed to permit up to 30,000 migrants from the specified countries to enter the U.S. legally each month, contingent on meeting certain parole criteria and having a U.S.-based sponsor.
Since its inception, the program has been a focal point of controversy, particularly concerning its legality and the rigor of its vetting processes.
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According to Fox News, DHS’ pause came after an internal audit exposed that numerous applications had been fraudulently manipulated. Findings from the audit showed that 100,948 forms were improperly filed by 3,218 sponsors.
Further, 24 of the most frequently used sponsor social security numbers were registered to deceased individuals. Furthermore, a staggering number of forms used identical physical addresses, with one address used between 124 and 739 times.
The DHS has confirmed these discrepancies, noting an IP address from Tijuana, Mexico, was used over 1,300 times to submit sponsorship forms. In income declarations, many sponsors either failed to disclose their earnings or reported incomes below the necessary threshold to support the parolees they intended to sponsor.
A DHS spokesperson commented that they take any abuse of their systems seriously, and steps are being taken to address these issues. “Where fraud is identified, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will investigate and litigate applicable cases in immigration court and make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., harshly criticized the program and the administration’s handling of the situation. “This admission by the Biden-Harris administration vindicates every warning we have ever issued about the unlawful CHNV mass-parole program,” he stated. Green accused the administration of lying about the program’s vetting process and suggested the program was established to avoid the political fallout from overrun borders.
The CHNV program was initially launched for Venezuelans in October 2022, and expanded to include Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans in January 2023. Participants in the program receive work permits and a two-year residency authorization.
The program was seen as a significant component of the Biden administration’s strategy to manage the surge in illegal immigration, according to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has described it as a model for other nations grappling with similar migration challenges.
Former Acting Secretary of DHS Chad Wolf has said the program’s implementation was flawed from the start and compromised public safety by inadequately vetting applications, according to The Daily Wire.
Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform stressed the need for rigorous oversight and said the administration was “willing to cut every corner” to admit as many migrants as possible, as reported by Fox News.
The program’s future remains uncertain with about 1.6 million applicants waiting for approval to travel to the U.S.
