According to a recent report by CBS News, the Biden Administration has imported over half a million migrants under programs designed to keep the same inflow of foreign nationals while lowering the reported numbers of illegal aliens encountered at the Southwest Border.
CBS News reports that the Biden Administration "[used] a 1950s law to launch the largest expansion of legal immigration in modern U.S. history." The article continues:
In less than two years, the Administration has allowed at least 541,000 migrants to enter the U.S. through the immigration parole authority, which gives federal officials the power to authorize the entry of foreigners who lack visas, according to internal government statistics, court records, and public reports.
The unprecedented use of the parole authority has allowed officials to divert migration away from the southern border by offering would-be migrants a legal and safe alternative to journeying to the U.S. with the help of smugglers and entering the country unlawfully. It has also given the Administration a faster way to resettle refugees as it attempts to rebuild a resettlement system gutted by drastic Trump-era cuts.
The Biden Administration's illegal use of parole authority has imported roughly 168,400 Latin American and Caribbean aliens; 141,200 Ukrainian refugees; 133,000 asylum-seekers who waited for an appointment in Mexico; 77,000 Afghan aliens; and 22,000 Ukrainian aliens processed at the U.S. southern border.
Nevertheless, Biden and Mayorkas's illegal use of parole (which is required to be used sparingly on a case-by-case basis) represents the most significant unilateral expansion of legal immigration in the past thirty years, without the explicit consent of Congress.
Parole authority originates from a 1952 law that allows the executive branch to admit those who don't have visas if doing so furthers an "urgent humanitarian" cause or "significant public benefit." Paroled aliens are not eligible for permanent status or citizenship but are allowed to live and work in the U.S. "legally," for typically 1-2 year increments that can be renewed.
CBS reports:
Doris Meissner, a top U.S. immigration official during the Reagan and Clinton administrations, said there's precedent for using parole to resettle refugees. During the Cold War, Republican and Democratic administrations paroled hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing communism in Cuba, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. But Meissner said the Biden administration's use of parole is historic.
"At this scale, in this time period, it is unprecedented," said Meissner, who led the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1993 to 2000.
The Biden Administration has illegally used its parole authority five major times and is currently working on a seventh parole program to funnel illegal aliens into the country and hide the border disaster it created, regardless of existing law, public opinion, or the national interest.
- In the summer of 2021, the Biden Admin. 's first large-scale use of parole was invoked to resettle tens of thousands of Afghans after President Biden handed the country to the Taliban.
- In early 2022 the Biden Admin. used parole to admit thousands of Ukrainians who had flown to the U.S.-Mexico border in the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- That month, to discourage future Ukrainian arrivals along the southern border, the Biden Admin. created a parole program to allow Ukrainians to fly directly to the U.S. if they have American sponsors.
- In October 2022, following their Ukrainian model, the Biden Admin. created another sponsorship-based parole program for Venezuelan aliens (who were crossing the southern border at record levels), eventually being expanded to Cuban, Haitian, and Nicaraguan aliens as well.
- That month, the Biden Admin. started allowing migrants in Mexico to use the disastrous CBP One app to request entry into the country at a port of entry. Those allowed into the U.S. under the process (529250/year) are paroled for one or two years and given a hearing in immigration court.
- The Biden Admin. has also used its parole authority to allow deported U.S. military veterans, migrant families separated under the Trump administration, at-risk Central American minors, and Cubans and Haitians with American relatives into the nation's interior.
Unfortunately, the Biden Admin. is also operationalizing another program that will allow aliens from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to enter the U.S. under the parole authority if they have sponsors who live in the U.S.
But the widespread use of parole has rightfully garnered strong criticism from lawmakers and state officials, who accuse the Biden Administration of abusing their parole authority and circumventing the limits Congress placed on immigration via work permits and visas.
Several Republican-led states have sued the Administration for its parole policy for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans with U.S. sponsors, which the states call an "illegal program" that imposes a financial burden on American communities due to social and medical services costs. They argue:
The Department of Homeland Security, under the false pretense of preventing aliens from unlawfully crossing the border between the ports of entry, has effectively created a new visa program — without the formalities of legislation from Congress.
DHS, however, says that the Administration is within its jurisdiction to use its parole authority despite the blatantly large-scale and deceitful nature of the programs) because "immigration officials still make individual determinations as to whether migrants should receive parole." DHS continues:
There are case-by-case adjudications happening. And that is why we very strongly believe that this is well within our statutory authorities and is a use of parole that's been consistent with how parole has been used in the past.
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