The United States government has “temporarily” suspended the controversial immigration program known as “humanitarian paralel“, which allows migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela to legally travel to North American territory, according to the digital version of the media outlet Fox News.
According to Fox News, the freezing of humanitarian parole is taking place “as a precaution” because the US authorities have detected some signs of fraud in the program, by the sponsors, that is, the people who request the migrants and who could be making some kind of financial profit.
«The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Fox News Digital that, “out of an abundance of caution,” it has temporarily paused the issuance of advance travel authorizations for the program, which allows up to 30,000 citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) to travel to the U.S. each month and enter legally under the administration’s use of parole if they meet certain conditions,» the American network says in its report.
Fox News adds that “a congressional source” has informed it that the mid-July pause on Humanitarian Parole occurs “after an internal report revealed large amounts of fraud in applications from applicants’ sponsors. DHS said the pause was occurring while it reviewed applications from sponsors. The focus is on problems with sponsors’ applications, not on applications from program recipients themselves.”
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According to the source consulted by the American news network, “DHS has review mechanisms in place to detect and prevent fraud and abuse in our immigration processes. DHS takes any abuse of its processes very seriously.” In turn, the spokesperson warned that “when fraud is identified, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) will investigate and litigate the corresponding cases in immigration courts and will refer criminal cases to the Department of Justice.”
«Out of an abundance of caution, DHS has temporarily suspended “DHS is issuing advance travel authorizations for new beneficiaries while conducting a review of applications for support. DHS will resume processing applications as quickly as possible, with appropriate safeguards,” the source reportedly told Fox News.
The Humanitarian Parole program was opened in October 2022 to facilitate legal entry for Venezuelan citizens who had not entered the United States illegally, who had a sponsor in the United States, and who passed certain controls and inspections.
In January 2023, the Biden administration expanded the program to include Nicaraguan, Haitian and Cuban citizens, setting the number of people from these three countries who could enter the United States each month at up to 30,000.
Humanitarian Parole allows citizens of the four defined countries to enter the United States and remain there for up to two years, receive a work permit and, during those two years, be able to request a change of status or, if they prefer, return to their countries of origin once the deadline is met.
No new authorizations since July 18
According to another source in the US Congress cited by Fox News, the US Customs and Border Protection Office stopped authorizing travel to Venezuelans on July 6, and did so with the other three countries on July 18.
According to Fox News’ source, authorities were alerted to possible fraud in the applications because they detected that the applicants’ forms included social security numbers, addresses and telephone numbers that were used hundreds of times.
A report prepared by a conservative anti-immigrant group called the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and provided to the news network reveals that “100,948 forms were completed by 3,218 serial sponsors, those whose number appears on 20 or more forms.”
