U.S. Senator Katie Britt Demands Biden-Harris Admin End Illegal Parole Program Flying Migrants into U.S. Interior

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 13, 2024 – U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) with 15 of their Senate colleagues wrote Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas calling on them to end the Biden-Harris Administration's parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV), due to reports of widespread fraud and abuse, and because the program is unlawful.

The letter outlines that the Biden-Harris CHNV program clearly violates federal law, and lists the catastrophic failures of the program, including incentivizing illegal migration, importing gang members and other dangerous violent criminals into the country, and evidence that tens of thousands of aliens were admitted pursuant to fraudulent applications. The Senators call for immediate termination of the CHNV parole program, enhanced border security and immigration enforcement, a comprehensive investigation of the failures associated with the program, and restoration of congressional oversight.

"We write to you with urgent and serious concerns regarding the Cuba-Haiti-Nicaragua-Venezuela (CHNV) Parole Program, recently administered by the Biden-Harris administration. Between January 2023 and July 2024, this program facilitated the entry of approximately 520,000 illegal aliens via commercial air travel," wrote the Senators. " . . . This program was intended to provide a pathway, not authorized by Congress, for unauthorized individuals from these four nations to enter our country. However, a new internal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) report obtained by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) reveals severe and systemic flaws that jeopardize our national security and public safety."

"In response to mounting evidence and growing criticism, the Biden administration decided to temporarily halt the CHNV Parole Program in mid-July 'out of an abundance of caution' so it could undertake a review of supporter applications," continued the Senators. "After less than six weeks of pause, the Department of Homeland Security recently restarted the program, which now requires those who wish to sponsor illegal aliens to submit fingerprints for the vetting process. Officials announced plans to more closely review the financial and criminal records of would-be sponsors, and increase scrutiny of repeat sponsors.

"These stop-gap marginal improvements and platitudes to improve the program do not solve the fundamental fraud, failure, and illegality of the CHNV program. This fundamentally-flawed program must be permanently dismantled, and steps must be taken to ensure that future immigration policies are both lawful and effective," the Senators wrote. "Our nation's security and the safety of our citizens demand that we act decisively to address these critical issues. We must restore confidence in our immigration policies and ensure that our systems are both secure and effective."

Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) also signed the letter.

Senator Britt has cosponsored Senator Grassley's Immigration Parole Reform Act of 2023, which would crack down on parole abuse. She is also a cosponsor of Senator Cruz's Secure the Border Act, which would narrow DHS' power to unilaterally grant parole to illegal aliens.