Documents released by the Department of Homeland Security show that more than 160,000 migrants were flown into Florida cities during an eight-month period in 2023, with another nearly 40,000 entering other major U.S. cities.
The data was subpoenaed by the House Homeland Security Committee and released on Tuesday.
The CHNV parole program, formerly known as the Humanitarian Parole Program, started with Venezuelans and was expanded to Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Cubans. It allows 30,000 migrants per month to get two-year work permits if they have a U.S. sponsor and pass a background check.
The program was intended to apply only to migrants who can demonstrate significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian relief through their migration to the U.S., but House Republicans believe the Biden DHS is abusing the program.
The largest number of paroled migrants recorded by DHS data, 91,821, were flown into Miami. Another 60,461 entered Ft. Lauderdale, with 6,043 going to Orlando and 3,271 to Tampa.
Smaller numbers were flown to New York, Texas, California, Georgia, and a few other states.
The migrants were granted permission to come to the U.S. but were responsible for their own travel and flights.
Customs and Border Patrol data showed that between October 2022 and February 2024, at least 400,000 migrants from Central America were flown into major cities in the U.S. under the parole program.
According to the House committee, DHS documents said 1.6 million migrants were waiting for approval to fly to the U.S. under the program as of October 2023.
“These documents expose the egregious lengths Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas will go to ensure inadmissible aliens reach every corner of the country, from Orlando and Atlanta to Las Vegas and San Francisco,” Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said in a statement.
“Secretary Mayorkas’ CHNV parole program is an unlawful sleight of hand used to hide the worsening border crisis from the American people,” he added. “Implementing a program that allows otherwise inadmissible aliens to fly directly into the U.S.—not for significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian reasons as the Immigration and Nationality Act mandates—has been proven an impeachable offense.”
The committee has been trying to get the documents since April 2023.
Around 20 states, including Florida, have sued the Biden administration to stop the parole program, arguing that it amounts to a new visa program that has not been sanctioned by current laws.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said through Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern about the lawsuit, “Biden’s parole program is unlawful, and constitutes an abuse of constitutional authority. Florida is currently suing Biden to shut it down, and we believe that we will prevail.”
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the program recently, calling it a “safe and orderly way to reach the United States” which has “led to a reduction in numbers of those nationalities.”
“It is a key element of our efforts to address the unprecedented level of migration throughout our hemisphere, and other countries around the world see it as a model to tackle the challenge of increased irregular migration that they too are experiencing,” Mayorkas said.
A DHS spokesperson told Fox Digital in April, “These processes are publicly available online, and DHS has been providing regular updates on their use to the public. These processes are part of the administration’s strategy to combine expanded lawful pathways with stronger consequences to reduce irregular migration, and have kept hundreds of thousands of people from migrating irregularly.”
The documents stated that those entering the U.S. through the parole program are “inadmissible” under any other program.
Mr. Green said the parole program is part of the reason why Mr. Mayorkas was impeached by the House.
“Following our subpoena and the House’s impeachment vote—especially in light of the Senate’s complete failure to fulfill its duty to hold a trial—the Committee will not rest until this administration is finally held accountable for its open-borders agenda and its devastating impact on our homeland security,” he said.
