US Customs and Border Protection Releases Latest Figures on Migrant Parole Program

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has released its latest figures on the Biden administration’s mass parole program targeting migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV). According to the August report, nearly 530,000 migrants were flown into the United States and paroled as part of the program.

The report includes data from after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resumed processing new Advance Travel Authorization (ATA) applications in the CHNV program’s parole process. Following an internal review, DHS implemented additional safeguards to the CHNV process, including rigorous and enhanced screening of U.S. resident applicants and biometric and electronic screening.

All CHNV beneficiaries will continue to be screened and inspected by CBP prior to arriving in the United States, and will need to meet additional criteria to travel to the United States after purchasing their own commercial airline tickets, CBP said in a news release.

Approximately 530,000 immigrants were flown into the U.S. and paroled, while approximately 813,000 immigrants made appointments using the CBP One app at ports of entry and were released into the U.S. Both are considered “legal routes” into the United States.

Immigrants who participate in the CHNV program are granted two years of humanitarian parole to enter the United States, which allows them to apply for jobs. However, concerns have been raised about the program’s effectiveness and the ability of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to track down and deport individuals who overstay their two-year authorizations.

ICE’s non-custodial population is expected to reach 8 million by the end of 2024, with each ICE officer handling an average of 7,000 cases. The agency also tracks and removes immigrants with Final Deportation Orders, Felon, Fugitive, and Other.

A recent report from the DHS inspector general found that ICE does not have an organization to track and deport the additional population allowed under the Biden administration’s program, nor does it have an agency to monitor parole expirations.

Conservatives have long argued that the CHNV program is an abuse of the parole authority, which allows foreigners to enter the country on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or substantial public benefit. A coalition of Republican states filed a lawsuit challenging the program, but it was dismissed by a district judge earlier this year.