The Biden Administration temporarily halted a highly controversial program that allowed thousands of illegal immigrants to fly directly into the United States every month after officials discovered widespread fraud among sponsors.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its decision to freeze the program and stop issuing travel documents for illegal aliens traveling from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
According to internal documents, the DHS halted the program after discovering significant amounts of fraudulent applications submitted by would-be sponsors who were applying to sponsor multiple illegal aliens. The issue arose with supporter filings— not with the filings from the beneficiaries of the program.
The DHS said it has not yet "identified issues” concerning the fraudulent behavior but vows potential criminal prosecution and that it takes instances as such “very seriously.”
“Where fraud is identified, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will investigate and litigate applicable cases in immigration court and make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice,” a DHS spokesperson claimed. “Out of an abundance of caution, DHS has temporarily paused the issuance of advanced travel authorizations for new beneficiaries while it undertakes a review of supporter applications. DHS will restart application processing as quickly as possible, with appropriate safeguards.”
However, Republican Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, called on the Biden-Harris Administration to terminate the program entirely, calling it “illegal.”
“This is exactly what happens when you create an unlawful mass-parole program in order to spare your administration the political embarrassment and bad optics of overrun borders," Greene said. “The Biden-Harris administration should terminate the CHNV program immediately."
Greene slammed the Biden-Harris Administration for politically embarrassing the U.S. with its “bad optics of overrun borders.”
The report indicated, "100,948 forms were filled out by 3,218 serial sponsors, those whose number appears on 20 or more forms.”
It also found that 24 of the 1,000 most used numbers belonged to a deceased person, while 100 physical addresses were used between 124 and 739 times on over 19,000 forms, including storage units. One phone number alone was submitted on more than 2,000 forms, and there were at least 2,839 forms with non-existent sponsor zip codes.
Since the program began, at least 520,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans have been flown to U.S. airports, where they are then released into the country.
Republican-led states such as Texas have challenged the program in court, arguing that it is a fancy way of allowing thousands of illegal immigrants to enter the country freely.