Biden admin freezes controversial migrant flight program after fraud revelations

EXCLUSIVE: The Biden administration has put a controversial program that allows tens of thousands of migrants from four nations to fly or travel directly into the U.S. on hold, after a report circulated internally showing significant amounts of fraud in the program.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Fox News Digital that "out of an abundance of caution," it has temporarily paused the issuing of advance travel authorizations for the program — which allows up to 30,000 nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) to travel into the U.S. each month and enter legally under the administration's use of parole if they meet certain conditions. 

A congressional source had told Fox News Digital the pause came in mid-July after an internal report unearthed large amounts of fraud in applications for those sponsoring the applicants. DHS said the pause was occurring as it reviewed sponsor applications. The focus is on issues with supporter filings, and not with the filings from the beneficiaries of the program themselves.

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"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," a DHS spokesperson said. "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." 

"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," they said.

The program was initially announced for Venezuelans in October 2022, and allowed a limited number to fly or travel directly into the U.S. as long as they had not entered illegally, had a sponsor in the U.S., and passed certain biometric and biographical vetting. The program does not itself facilitate flights, and migrants are responsible for their own travel.

In January 2023, the administration announced that the program was expanding to include Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans and that the program would allow up to 30,000 people per month into the U.S. It allows for migrants to receive work permits and a two-year authorization to live in the U.S. and was announced alongside an expansion of Title 42 expulsions to include those nationalities.

A congressional source tells Fox News Digital that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stopped issuing travel authorizations to Venezuelans on July 6 and authorizations for the three remaining nationalities on July 18.

The internal report found that forms from those applying for the program included social security numbers, addresses and phone numbers being used hundreds of times in some cases.

Parts of the report shared with Fox News Digital by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a conservative immigration group, showed that 100,948 forms were filled out by 3,218 serial sponsors — those whose number appears on 20 or more forms.

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It also found that 24 of the 1,000 most used numbers belonged to a dead person. Meanwhile, 100 physical addresses were used between 124 and 739 times on over 19,000 forms. Those addresses included storage units. One sponsor phone number was submitted on over 2,000 forms, and there were 2,839 forms with non-existent sponsor zip codes, according to the leak.

The report was created by the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate to ensure DHS can quickly respond to fraud in immigration benefits programs. Sponsors must pass security and background vetting and demonstrate financial resources to support the individual they are sponsoring.

DHS stressed to Fox News Digital that CHNV beneficiaries are "thoroughly screened and vetted prior to their arrival to the United States." 

"The multi-layered screening and vetting for advanced travel authorizations is separate from the screening of U.S.-based supporters," the spokesperson said. "DHS has not identified issues of concern relating to the screening and vetting of beneficiaries." 

The freeze is likely to raise additional questions from Republicans, who have alleged that the Biden administration’s use of parole is an abuse of congressionally granted authority — which limits the power to be used only for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

"This is an indication that the administration was willing to cut every corner and endanger public safety in order to bring in as many illegal aliens as they could," Ira Mehlman, a spokesperson for FAIR, told Fox News Digital.

The administration is also using the CBP One app to allow 1,450 migrants to enter the U.S. via a port of entry each day. It recently announced a "parole in place" for spouses of illegal immigrants. 

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DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently said the program is a "safe and orderly way to reach the United States" and 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.

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DHS revealed this year that, as of October 2023, there were about 1.6 million applicants waiting for DHS approval to fly to the U.S. via the parole program.

A lawsuit challenging the program was shot down earlier this year, but Republican states who filed it have indicated they intend to appeal.