"Humanitarian Parole" Is a Sneaky Deception to Skirt Immigration Laws
Opening yet another parole portal and busting the cap on family-based visas, the Biden administration has launched a program to bring more Ecuadorian nationals into the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials say the new pathway will “provide an alternative to dangerous irregular migration.” In reality, it’s expediting and expanding government-sanctioned illegal immigration.
Over the past two years, this administration has concocted special parole provisions for foreign nationals from Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Venezuela, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Ecuador joins the favored nations after 99,000 of its countrymen were encountered at America’s southern border in the past year – a 312 percent increase from fiscal 2022.
Under the guidelines, qualifying Ecuadorians must have family members in the U.S. who are American citizens or permanent residents. Selected immigrants will be fast-tracked for admission, circumventing the family-based visa system.
As with parolees from the other countries, approved Ecuadorians can work legally here while waiting for their green cards.
Presumably, Ecuadorians can also qualify for flights into the U.S. via the CBP One phone app. Through this application, more than 200,000 Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Colombians have flown directly (at their expense) to U.S. airports, “where Customs officers parole them into the country,” according to a recent report.
Where does it end? Washington’s shady parole schemes have been repeatedly called out by FAIR and others, and are under review by the courts. The Biden administration’s abuse of parole authority flagrantly ignores the statutory requirement that it be exercised only on a case-by-case basis and in furtherance of compelling national or humanitarian interests.
FAIR’s legal arm, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), elaborated:
“The myriad alien entry programs that the Biden administration is spontaneously pulling out of its hat are gross abuses of the parole authority — which was intended to be used only in exigent circumstances. These programs are a blatant attempt by the president to usurp congressional authority to make the law. …Congress did not give the Executive Branch any authority to unilaterally grant admission to broad classes of foreign nationals. That power belongs to Congress alone.
According to estimates, 1.4 million parolees have entered the U.S. since President Biden assumed office. Based on the language of the parole statute, however, the number of people qualifying for parole would be a lot closer to 1,400 than 1.4 million.