Staff Reports
House Republicans Call for Openness Regarding the Biden Administration's Immigration Parole Program
House Republicans are demanding more information from the Biden administration about a scheme that has made it possible for hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the country illegally from overseas and avoid the southern border. Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, is under pressure from lawmakers to provide information on the roughly 400,000 foreign nationals who have been given permission to enter the nation on parole.
https://twitter.com/mattealexG/status/1788714422946480504
Under the CHNV program, citizens of several authoritarian-ruled nations can use a smartphone app to request "advance travel authorization" and board a plane to the United States for inspection. Upon arrival, a Customs and Border Protection officer decides whether to issue parole and allow the immigrant to stay in the country for a period of two years on the grounds of "urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons."
Legislators from Missouri are worried that this scheme, which lets otherwise ineligible immigrants enter the nation covertly at airports across the nation, is a backdoor means of reducing the number of illegal immigrants. They contend that the Biden administration has flagrantly disregarded the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965's case-by-case basis requirement in favor of abusing its power to issue mass parole to foreign nationals based only on their state of origin.
The six Republican congressmen stressed that the DHS has "far beyond" its powers as stated in the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act in a letter to Secretary Mayorkas. Since parole is only meant to last two years, they are asking for details on how the government is keeping track of the 400,000 migrants allowed through the program and how it intends to guarantee that every migrant is removed from the United States.
The Biden administration maintains that the CHNV program has discouraged migrants from paying criminal organizations to smuggle them over the southern border and has defended the program as a legitimate use of parole power. But when it comes to migrant parole, House Republicans are demanding more openness and compliance with immigration regulations.
