Biden’s Unlawful Parole Program Threatens to Put Kids in Harm’s Way

Much has already been written about the detrimental impact of Biden’s new blowout parole program for up to 360,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans a year. Less discussed is the possibility that the program will serve as an outlet for pedophiles and human traffickers to abuse migrants by posing as well-intentioned financial sponsors. These supporters are supposed to help parolees with transportation, housing, getting a job, enrolling kids in school, learning English, meeting health care needs, and more. While this may sound like a noble endeavor in theory, it creates a golden opportunity for sinister actors with ulterior motives to prey on children and vulnerable adults. Human trafficking, sex trafficking, child pornography, and labor violations will spike thanks to Biden’s open-borders mentality.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) claims they will require potential sponsors to “pass security and background vetting, including for public safety, national security, human trafficking, and exploitation concerns.” A few points bear emphasis. First, this sounds like the same assurance the administration made for the more than 70,000 Afghan nationals paroled into the US as part of Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) starting in July 2021. Despite their assurances, 50 of those evacuees had “potentially significant security concerns” in Pentagon databases, and many have committed heinous crimes against innocent Americans – including service members. Then, in November 2022, a Project Veritas investigation revealed the government was knowingly placing unaccompanied alien children (UACs) with criminals. One migrant child interviewed said her sponsor would “pimp” her to men. Do we really trust the administration to properly carry out vetting this time around?

Second, USCIS doesn’t collect enough information to fully vet potential sponsors. The Form I-134A used to apply for sponsorship only asks for a current address and employer, among other cursory questions. If a sponsor has recently moved, started a new job, or is presently unemployed, it will be nearly impossible to obtain character references. By contrast, basic employment and rental applications ask for addresses and employers stretching back several years – with good reason. While a criminal background check will surely be run, this will not catch individuals who may not have had run-ins with the law but nevertheless see an opportunity to act on perverse motives. Also, sponsors can even be illegal aliens who may have come from countries with poor or nonexistent criminal justice systems. Even a background check therefore may miss past criminal behavior. Moreover, there is no requirement that the sponsor actually know the beneficiary. All they need to do is provide some basic biographic, contact, and financial information which they can easily obtain electronically from aliens eager to secure a sponsor.

Finally, the process allows individuals to file sponsorship applications “on behalf of organizations, businesses, or other entities.” In this case, the individual completing the application doesn’t need to submit personal financial information and the third-party entity merely needs to provide “a letter of commitment or other documentation from an officer or other credible representative.” With the proliferation of woke open-borders groups facilitating the invasion of illegal aliens at our borders, these will likely make up a significant portion of the sponsor applications. It would be nearly impossible to vet all of a third party’s staff or volunteers that could end up supporting migrants. Even if the groups provided a staff list at the time of application, turnover dictates that aliens could end up with different unvetted individuals. And would the government really “vet” a staff list anyway, knowing some on the list would likely not end up sponsoring migrants? That would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy and would be challenged in court. This adds up to a significant loophole that will lead to innocent kids being put in harm’s way.

At least one former Trump administration official is already sounding the alarm on these risks. Tom Homan, former Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said at an Impeach Mayorkas forum at The Heritage Foundation on February 8, “The latest parole policy…opens up a whole new world for alien smuggling and human trafficking. There’s going to be a lot of sick people in this country who will be willing to sponsor a young lady [or] a young man to come to this country…Once they get here, they’re going to be forced into some sort of labor or sexual situation. It scares the hell out of me.”

Biden claims his new parole program is “safe, orderly, and humane,” but it’s really a boondoggle that will put both citizens and aliens – especially innocent children – in danger. Instead of rushing to import as many aliens as possible by abusing parole authority, Biden should restore integrity to the legal immigration system, respect Congressional intent, and secure the border.