By Anugrah KumarChristian Mail Contributor Monday, August 05, 2024

The Biden administration has temporarily suspended the CHNV mass release program — in which migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela are flown into the country — because of a damning internal report revealing widespread fraud. The Department of Homeland Security made this decision after discoveries of abuse involving sponsor files and misuse of social security numbers, among other discrepancies.

The CHNV program, initiated under the Biden administration, was designed to allow up to 30,000 migrants from the specified countries to enter the United States legally each month, subject to meeting certain parole criteria and having an American sponsor.

Since its inception, the program has been a focus of controversy, particularly regarding its legality and the rigor of its screening processes.

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According to Fox News, the DHS pause came after an internal audit revealed that many applications were fraudulently handled. Findings from the audit showed that 100,948 forms were improperly filed by 3,218 sponsors.

Further, 24 of the most commonly used sponsor social security numbers were registered to deceased individuals. In addition, a surprising number of forms used identical physical addresses, where one address is used between 124 and 739 times.

The DHS confirmed these discrepancies, noting that an IP address from Tijuana, Mexico, was used more than 1,300 times to send sponsorship forms. In income statements, many sponsors either did not disclose their earnings or reported income below the necessary threshold to support the parolees they intended to sponsor.

A DHS spokesperson commented that they take any abuse of their systems seriously, and steps are being taken to address these issues. “Where fraud is identified, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will investigate and prosecute applicable cases in immigration court and make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice,” the spokesperson said.

House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., severely criticized the program and the administration's handling of the situation. “This admission by the Biden-Harris administration vindicates every warning we've ever issued about CHNV's illegal mass release program,” he stated. Green accused the administration of lying about the program's vetting process and suggested the program was established to avoid the political fallout from overrun borders.

The CHNV program was initially launched for Venezuelans in October 2022, and expanded to include Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans in January 2023. Participants in the program receive work permits and a two-year residence permit.

The program was seen as a significant component of the Biden administration's strategy to manage the increase in illegal immigration, according to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who described it as a model for other nations struggling with similar migration challenges.

Former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said the program's implementation was flawed from the start and endangered public safety by inadequately vetting applications, according to The Daily Wire.

Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform emphasized the need for rigorous oversight and said the administration “wants to cut every corner” to take in as many migrants as possible, as reported by Fox News.

The future of the program remains uncertain with an estimated 1.6 million applicants awaiting approval to travel to the United States.