House Republicans demand Biden ‘terminate’ flights that have let 320K migrants avoid border
WASHINGTON — A group of House Republicans fired off a post-State of the Union demand Friday that the Biden administration “immediately terminate” a program that’s allowed more than 320,000 migrants into the US — so they don’t have to illegally cross the southern border.
Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC), joined by 22 other GOP lawmakers, made the request in a letter to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting director Troy Miller, citing a recent report from the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for less immigration and has been suing for records on the program.
“We write today to express our grave concerns over the Biden administration’s actions to fly approximately 320,000 illegal immigrants from Latin American airports to 43 cities across the United States,” wrote Fry, a member of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees.
“These secretive flights have compounded the effects of the already historic crisis at the Southern Border,” the letter says.
“We urge you to provide Congress and the American people with information as to where these illegal immigrants have been deposited into the country and immediately terminate this practice.”
The letter specifically seeks data on the destinations of the migrants and information on government costs and personnel responsible for overseeing it.
Biden, 81, said in his annual speech to Congress on Thursday night that he wants to rein in the US-Mexico border crisis by reducing the asylum processing timeframe from “six to eight years” to “six weeks” by boosting resources — so that “it’s highly unlikely that people will pay that money and come all that way knowing that they’ll be able to be kicked out quickly.”
House Republicans accuse Biden of causing the migrant crisis by terminating former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program that required asylum seekers to await decisions on their status south of the border.
Republicans also contend that Biden’s “parole” program launched last year to allow asylum seekers to bypass the border could be unlawful and a way to cook the books by making the influx of migrants appear smaller.
In January 2023, the Biden administration announced it would allow 30,000 asylum seekers per month into the US from four countries combined — Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela — if they passed a background check and had a US sponsor.
Federal data show that as of December, 327,000 asylum seekers from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela arrived through the parole program — including 67,000 Cubans, 126,000 Haitians, 53,000 Nicaraguans and 81,000 Venezuelans.
The migrants, who travel into the US through commercial flights or arrive at ordinary border checkpoints, are processed using a cellphone app called CBP One, which is also used for a family reunification program that allows migrants to enter the US to rejoin relatives.
The reunification program is open to citizens of Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras.
In total, CBP says on an informational page, “413,300 individuals have successfully scheduled appointments to present at ports of entry using CBP One. The top nationalities who have been processed are Venezuelan, Mexican, and Haitian.”
The practice of allowing migrants to circumvent the border hasn’t dampened the surge, as a large majority of people crossing illegally also are allowed to enter the US to await asylum decisions.
After 180 days, asylum seekers in the US are entitled to work permits.
December saw an all-time monthly record with more than 302,000 people arrested for illegally entering from Mexico — equivalent to the population of Pittsburgh.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in January that more than 85% of those detained for illegally crossing the border were being released into the US — up from 71% in October and 74% in November.
A massive asylum processing backlog means that an actual adjudication of asylum claims could take nearly a decade.
About 2.5 million people — nearly the population of Chicago — were apprehended after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30, in addition to an estimated 670,000 “gotaways” who evaded authorities.
Fiscal 2022 set the previous record, with nearly 2.4 million apprehensions along the border — up from 1.7 million in fiscal 2021.
