DHS Restarts Immigration Program, Adds More Vetting After Finding Fraud

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington on Aug. 12, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is restarting an immigration parole program with increased vetting after finding fraud issues.

DHS officials paused the program in early August after officials found U.S.-based sponsors of applicants used fake Social Security numbers and other information.

The relaunched program will include additional vetting of the sponsors, their financial records, and criminal backgrounds, a DHS spokesperson said on Aug. 29.

The government launched the program for Venezuelans in 2022 as part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to welcome more immigrants. The program was expanded to nationals of Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua in early 2023. The applicants must have a U.S.-based financial sponsor who vouches for them and flies them into an American airport. Up to 30,000 people a month are approved. Those approved can remain in the United States for at least two years and are eligible for work authorization.

In a change, the DHS is now going to require sponsors to submit fingerprints as part of the effort to root out illegitimate supporters. DHS is also going to focus on pinpointing people who sponsor numerous applicants.

“Together with our existing rigorous vetting of potential beneficiaries seeking to travel to the United States, these new procedures for supporters have strengthened the integrity of these processes and will help protect against exploitation of beneficiaries,” the DHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

“This is an example of DHS’s ongoing commitment to consistently review filing trends to identify and address potential risks to process integrity. DHS is committed to holding accountable individuals who commit fraud or attempt to exploit others for gain. Any individuals found to have committed fraud or other abuse will be referred to law enforcement for potential prosecution.”

An internal review uncovered sponsors using fake Social Security numbers, Social Security numbers of dead people, and false phone numbers.

DHS officials said the number of sponsors identified as submitting fraudulent information or having criminal issues was very small, and that they were referred to law enforcement for appropriate action.

Officials said most cases featured legitimate information, and that there were not issues with the immigrants themselves.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which favors lower levels of immigration, said it obtained the report and that the review found more than 110,000 applications were rejected for various reasons. The group also said applicants themselves sometimes provided fictitious information.

Through June, more than 494,000 immigrants have been admitted into the United States under the program.

All of those immigrants were thoroughly screened and vetted, according to the DHS.

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement that the government should not be rushing to restart the program in light of the fraud findings.

The program and the use of a phone application “has helped the president and his border czar play a massive shell game, encouraging otherwise-inadmissible aliens to simply cross at ports of entry instead of between them,” Green said.

“Instead of scrapping the clearly flawed program, the department is allowing it to continue without rooting out the fraud or putting adequate safeguards in place to prevent exploitation by sponsors here in the United States,” he added later. “But fundamentally, there would be no fraud to prevent if DHS simply stopped importing 30,000 inadmissible aliens every month in the first place.”

FAIR President Dan Stein said in a statement that DHS in restarting the program only offered “very vague assurances that they’ve fixed the problems.”

The outlined resumption “does not address how they plan to vet each sponsor while maintaining a program that allows 30,000 illegal aliens a month to enter the United States or conduct adequate background checks on parolees from countries whose governments are hostile to the U.S.,” he said. “The American public has every reason to be skeptical.”