Biden DHS' flight scheme landed over 160,000 'inadmissible aliens' in Florida inside an 8-month window

The Biden administration is quietly loading Florida up with foreign nationals who have no business being in the country by way of the Department of Homeland Security's controversial Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) mass-parole program.

This apparent illegal-immigration workaround, which Republicans have called "unlawful," could prove impactful for the Sunshine State as well as for the rest of the country. After all, the DHS' imports are likely to put additional stress on citizen resources in Florida, such as hospitals, which a recent report indicates were put out $566 million last year on account of illegal aliens.

Background

The Biden DHS launched the CHNV parole program in late 2022 in an apparent effort to both spare prospective illegal aliens from having to jump the border and to lower the Biden administration's egregious border-jumper statistics.

The DHS announced in January 2023 that prospective CHNV migrants "who have a supporter in the United States, undergo and clear robust security vetting, and meet other eligibility criteria" can apply for advance authorization to fly to an interior port of entry in the United States. The program grants up to a two-year parole for up to 30,000 CHNV nationals per month.

A U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas noted in March that by June 2023, the DHS had approved 97.5% of the applications for CHNV nationals.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicated that as of March, "404,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans arrived lawfully on commercial flights and were granted parole under these processes. Specifically, 86,000 Cubans, 168,000 Haitians, 77,000 Nicaraguans, 102,000 Venezuelans were vetted and authorized for travel; and 84,000 Cubans, 154,000 Haitians, 69,000 Nicaraguans, and 95,000 Venezuelans arrived lawfully and were granted parole."

Upon the implementation of the program, 21 states filed suit, claiming that the program exceeds the authority of the DHS and its secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas; failed to include a notice and comment period; and is arbitrary and capricious.

The states' complaint suggested the DHS has "effectively created a new visa program — without the formalities of legislation from Congress."

"The parole program established by the Department fails each of the law's three limiting factors. It is not case-by-case, is not for urgent humanitarian reasons, and advances no significant public benefit," continued the complaint. "The Department does not have the authority to invite more than a third of a million more illegal aliens into the United States annually as it has announced with this program."

Texas also argued that the CHNV program was also harmful because migrants approved under the scheme qualify for state services such as health care and public education, reported the Texas Tribune.

U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton ruled in favor of the Biden administration on March 8, enabling the scheme to keep going.

Damning figures

On Tuesday, House Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee revealed some troubling details about the Biden Department of Homeland Security's CHNV scheme.

According to the internal data the committee obtained via subpoena, 1.6 million inadmissible aliens were awaiting travel authorizations through the CHNV program as of October 2023. If accepted by the DHS, as most are, then they would join more than 400,000 others, including the roughly 200,000 migrants flown into the U.S. then processed by the DHS under the program between January and August — the bulk of whom ended up in Florida.

The committee indicated during that 8-month window, 91,821 migrants flew into Miami, Florida; 60,461 flew into Ft. Lauderdale; 6,043 flew into Orlando; and 3,237 flew into Tampa under the program.

The top 15 airport locations used for the CHNV program also included New York City, which received 14,827 between January and August 2023; Houston, 7,923; Los Angeles, 3,237; Dallas, 2,256; San Francisco, 2,052; Atlanta, 1,796; and Washington, D.C., which received 1,472.

The internal DHS documents apparently indicate that none of the migrants have a legal basis to enter the U.S., explicitly stating, "All individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible, including those paroled under the CHNV Processes."

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the committee, said in a statement, "These documents expose the egregious lengths Secretary Mayorkas will go to ensure inadmissible aliens reach every corner of the country, from Orlando and Atlanta to Las Vegas and San Francisco. Secretary Mayorkas' CHNV parole program is an unlawful sleight of hand used to hide the worsening border crisis from the American people."

"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," added Green.

Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), told Fox News in a statement, "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."

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