The Biden-Harris administration on Monday boasted about the recent reduction in illegal border crossings, despite the latest immigration data also showing hundreds of thousands of migrants have been allowed into the U.S. via different pathways created by the White House.
Since President Joe Biden announced an executive order in June limiting the number of unlawful crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border, encounters between ports of entry have fallen by over 50%, according to a press release by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). However, the press release also revealed that more than half a million foreign nationals have been flown in via a mass parole program, and nearly a million others have scheduled appointments with the U.S. government in hopes of entering.
“CBP continues to enforce the Securing the Border interim final rule and deliver strong consequences for illegal entry, and encounters between ports of entry remain at their lowest level in years,” acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller boasted in the CBP press release.
Nearly 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans have been flown into the country and granted parole under an initiative launched by the Biden-Harris administration known as the CHNV program, according to the CBP press release. Additionally, around 813,000 migrants have scheduled appointments to present at ports of entry via the CBP One app since its introduction in January 2023.
Border Patrol agents encountered roughly 58,000 migrants attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border in August, according to the latest CBP data. This number marks the first uptick in illegal crossings at the southern border since February, in which there had been a steady decline every month.
Initially launched for Venezuelans in October 2022, CHNV was later expanded in January 2023 to include Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians. The parole program grants foreign nationals two year authorization into the U.S. and work permits, provided they have not previously entered the country illegally and pass other vetting processes.
The Department of Homeland Security had temporarily paused CHNV in August after reports found massive fraud, but then quickly resumed the mass parole program just a few weeks later. An internal audit discovered a litany of red flags, such as over 100,000 CHNV forms being completed by fewer than 4,000 applicants and Social Security numbers by sponsors belonging to a deceased individual, among other discrepancies.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green has previously referred to CHNV and the CBP One app as a “massive shell game” that allows otherwise inadmissible aliens to enter the country lawfully in lieu of crossing the border illegally.
The administration also noted that, since Biden’s executive order went into effect in June, DHS has deported more than 131,000 foreign nationals to over 140 countries and nearly tripled the percentage of noncitizens processed for expedited removal.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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