(DailyChive.com) – The Biden administration has paused a program that was allowing illegal immigrants to fly into the country from four conflict-ridden countries under the ostensible justification that the individuals were legitimately seeking asylum.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to corporate press that the controversial program which allowed up to 30,000 non-citizens to fly into the country per month from Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela was temporarily paused due to significant amounts of fraud being detected in the application process.
Someone who works in Congress reportedly told a corporate press outlet that the pause started in the middle of July and was enacted after an internal review found significant quantities of fraudulent applications for sponsors. The problem is largely that sponsors, not applicants, were using fraudulent documents during the application process.
A spokesman for the DHS said that their internal processes were triggered by the fraud, forcing the program to be paused until such time as the current backlog of bad applications are dealt with. He further suggested Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will investigate and any criminal referrals will be made to the Department of Justice (DOJ) depending on their findings.
DHS added that when the program resumes, it will have additional safeguards in place to prevent this kind of abuse in the future.
Originally used for Venezuelans in October 2022, the program authorized thousands of illegal immigrants to fly into the United States if they had a sponsor, passed biometric screenings, and were vetted. Applicants would have to fund and arrange their own flights.
The program was expanded in January 2023 for illegal immigrants claiming asylum from Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba and the limits raised to 360,000 people per year. Applicants under the program could apply and acquire work permits and a two-year grace period to live in the U.S.
The congressional source said that they stopped the program for Venezuelans on July 6 and the rest of it by July 18. Applicants were being “serial sponsored” and those sponsors used false social security numbers or other identifying information in their applications.
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