An illegitimate Biden administration program intended to provide humanitarian relief for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) fleeing the horrible conditions present in their home countries has admitted many of the migrants from safe, prosperous third countries instead. According to House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, DHS documents show many of the inadmissible migrants under the CHNV program were admitted from Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Hong Kong, Lt. Lucia, Sweden, and other wealthy nations.
On Thursday, Chairman Green, MD (R-TN) commented on the recently released documents, saying:
By operating this obviously unlawful mass-parole program, Biden and Mayorkas continue to make a mockery of our laws. It’s bad enough that this program exists in the first place, as it clearly violates the limits on parole established in the immigration laws passed by bipartisan congressional majorities. Worse still is the fact that these departure locations show that many of those who have left the CHNV countries seeking economic opportunity, or a better life have found it in prosperous nations through Europe, Asia, and elsewhere.
The documents were obtained through successful Freedom of Information Act litigation brought by the Centers for Immigration Studies (CIS). According to CIS, the negotiated release of the documents did not include specific numbers of migrants departing the more than 70 departure countries from which the more than 460 thousand Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants arrived. According to a report on the release of the documents by CIS, the information was held back by the Biden administration for more than a year after the initial FOIA request.
According to Colin Farnsworth, the Center’s chief FOIA counsel, the litigation concerning the FOIA is now settled, and no additional information will be released under the settlement terms. Farnsworth explained:
Although the government had no legitimate claims for withholding the foreign airports the participants of the ATA program were flying from, and their respective departure volumes, CIS determined it was in the public’s interest to quickly obtain the list of related foreign countries by settling the lawsuit, instead of allowing the government to extensively delay the release of any records through a lengthy legal process.
Chairman Green expressed his concerns that an extensive list of countries from which the Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelan migrants had resettled to provide ample evidence the program falls outside legitimate grounds for asylum, saying, “This demonstrates that many who are making use of the Biden administration’s mass-parole program have settled comfortably in other nations and likely have no legitimate grounds for claiming protections within the United States.”
The latest document release adds to the concerns the House Homeland Security Committee raised with the program in recent months. In April, the Committee released internal DHS documents identifying more than 50 airports in the United States, including the nation’s capital, where CHNV program migrants were allowed to enter the country. According to the documents obtained through a committee subpoena, 1.6 million nationals of the four countries, which DHS admits are inadmissible under current immigration law, are awaiting travel authorization to enter the U.S. under the CHNV program.
According to the documents, the top ten arrival airport locations and the number of Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants granted parole between January and August 2023 were:
- Miami, Florida — 91,821
- Ft. Lauderdale, Florida — 60,461
- New York City, New York — 14,827
- Houston, Texas — 7,923
- Orlando, Florida — 6,043
- Los Angeles, California — 3,271
- Tampa, Florida — 3,237
- Dallas, Texas — 2,256
- San Francisco, California — 2,052
- Atlanta, Georgia — 1,796
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
