AREQUIPA, Peru – Beneficiaries of the humanitarian parole program who already have an approved travel permit will be able to travel to the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of that country reported.
A report from the portal Marti News The agency said DHS is working with stakeholders, including airlines and sponsors, to address travel issues as quickly as possible and would continue to provide updates.
The news comes after passengers with authorized parole who were ready to fly were stranded at Cuban airports on Saturday. American Airlines, Southwest and other airlines did not allow them to board. for the suspension of the migration program.
DHS is currently further evaluating the humanitarian parole application process, a DHS spokesperson told Marti News.
“As part of these efforts, some beneficiaries have been notified that their Advance Travel Authorization (ATA) status is denied.”
The source noted that individuals must possess a valid ATA to travel to the United States under these processes. In this regard, DHS is working to resume processing of ATA applications “as soon as possible” with additional safeguards.
Immigration officials, who spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity, said Saturday that they were caught by surprise by the suspension of humanitarian parole, and that on August 3 they processed only beneficiaries from Haiti.
“Some officers [de inmigración] were ordered to let them board planes from their home countries, while others were told that the program was detained and should not have been allowed to board,” the report said.
For its part, American Airlines recently noted that it “continues to comply with the Administration’s Advance Travel Authorization Program, supporting customers entering the United States as part of this program.”
Last week, following the circulation of an internal report exposing significant levels of fraud in the humanitarian parole program, the United States government temporarily suspended travel permits for beneficiaries of the process.
As DHS confirmed at the time, Fox News DigitalWashington suspended the permits “out of an abundance of caution.”
This temporarily halts the issuance of advance travel authorizations for the parole program, which allows up to 30,000 nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) travel to the USA each month and legally enter into the administration’s parole if they meet certain conditions.
A source in the US Congress told the aforementioned media that the pause occurred in mid-July, after an internal report revealed large amounts of fraud in sponsors’ applications.
“The focus is on problems with sponsor submissions, not with submissions from program beneficiaries,” the note said.
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