(March 21, 2024, Washington, D.C.) Unprecedented abuse of immigration parole authority by the Biden administration is currently allowing more illegal aliens into the United States than the U.S. admits through the legal immigration process, finds a new report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Data detailed in the report, Immigration Parole: The Executive Branch's Shadow Immigration System, reveals that during the first two quarters of fiscal year (FY) 2023, 636,601 foreign nationals gained entry to the United States via parole compared with 545,419 who were granted green cards through our legal immigration system.
The abuse of parole is effectively creating a shadow immigration system that circumvents Congress. The Biden administration has paroled in at least 1.8 million individuals in two years, giving these illegal aliens nearly the same benefits as green cardholders. This widespread abuse of parole authority has been carried out in order to make the unprecedented influx of illegal aliens under the Biden administration less visible to the American public.
In addition to illegal aliens who are granted parole upon entering the country illegally – such as Jose Ibarra, who is accused of murdering Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student – the administration has created a parole program that allows citizens of certain countries who don't have visas and are ineligible to be admitted to fly directly to the United States. Upon their arrival, they receive parole, are released, and become eligible for work permits and other benefits. Illegal aliens who are granted parole to enter the U.S. have undergone inadequate vetting, increasing the national security and public safety risks to Americans.
"The Biden administration has taken a program that, by statute, is supposed to be temporary and exercised on a case-by-case basis and created what they term as a 'new legal pathway' for people to enter and remain permanently in the country," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "To be clear, there is nothing legal about these pathways. Under our Constitution, only Congress has the authority to create legal avenues for people to enter the United States. Nevertheless, the administration has usurped that authority to implement what amounts to a shadow immigration system that now exceeds in scope the formal legal immigration process."
Among the Biden administration's most egregious abuses of parole authority include:
Development of the CBP One app, which facilitates appointments for illegal migrants heading to the U.S., and has resulted in the parole of over 43,000 illegal aliens each month from ports of entry.
Creation of new programs for nationals of Ukraine and Afghanistan, which violate the statutory prohibition on paroling in refugees, bypass the established refugee process, and circumvent its standard vetting procedures.
Establishment of country specific parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans that allow as many as 360,000 inadmissible aliens a year to fly directly to the United States.
Creating "Family Reunification Parole" programs for the above-mentioned nationalities plus citizens of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador and Honduras.
Reinstatement of the Obama-era Central American Minors (CAM) and International Entrepreneurial parole programs.
Illegal aliens granted parole are eligible for numerous public assistance programs and work authorization, and are able to adjust their status to green card holders. In addition, they are not monitored or required to check in with the government while in the United States.
"This week Congress is holding hearings to examine the scope and impact of the Biden administration's flagrant abuse of parole. It is imperative that these hearings result in Congress passing clearly worded legislation – such as those provisions included in H.R. 2 -- that curtails executive discretion and explicitly defines the specific, and limited, circumstances under which an alien may be released via parole into the United States," Stein concluded.
FAIR's full report, Immigration Parole: The Executive Branch's Shadow Immigration System, can be found here.
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