(Washington) The Biden administration is reviving an immigration program that will allow migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to come to the United States. The program includes “additional vetting” of their U.S.-based sponsors because of concerns about fraud.
The Department of Homeland Security suspended the program earlier this month to investigate the concerns, but said an internal review found no widespread fraud among sponsors.
“Along with our existing rigorous vetting of potential beneficiaries seeking to travel to the United States, these new procedures have strengthened the integrity of these processes and will help protect against exploitation of beneficiaries,” the agency said.
The program was launched in January 2023 and is a major part of the Biden administration’s immigration policies that create or expand legal pathways for entry while limiting asylum for those who cross the border illegally.
The policy targets countries that send large numbers of people to the United States and generally refuse to accept those who are deported. The program comes with commitments from Mexico to take back people from those countries who cross the U.S. border illegally.
Under the program, the United States will accept up to 30,000 people per month from those four countries for two years and provide eligibility for work authorization.
To qualify, migrants will need to have a sponsor in the United States who will vouch for them and land at a U.S. airport at their own expense, rather than crossing at the southern border. Individuals acting as sponsors and migrants hoping to come to America are subject to vetting by the Department of Homeland Security.
A criticized program
Republicans have repeatedly criticized the program as a way to circumvent immigration laws. They immediately attacked the administration when the program was suspended earlier this month, saying it further confirmed their concerns about whether migrants were being properly vetted. And they criticized the decision announced Thursday to restart it.
Instead of eliminating this clearly flawed program, the Department is allowing it to continue without rooting out the fraud or putting in place adequate safeguards to prevent exploitation by sponsors here in the United States. But fundamentally, there would be no fraud to prevent if DSI simply stopped importing 30,000 inadmissible aliens each month.
Mark Green, Republican, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Thursday that the additional scrutiny would include a closer look at the financial records that U.S.-based sponsors are required to submit as well as their criminal histories. Sponsors will be required to submit fingerprints, and the agency will step up measures to identify fraudulent applicants and those filing large numbers of applications.
The CIO confirmed that an internal review found some cases of fraud, such as sponsors using fake Social Security numbers, but that the majority of cases it investigated had a reasonable explanation, such as a typo when a request was made online.
“Since the process began, a very small number of sponsors have been found to have fraud or criminality concerns, warranting referral to law enforcement for investigation and/or appropriate action,” the agency said.
The Department of Homeland Security also said it had not seen any problems in the screening of migrants themselves, saying that those who come to the United States under the program “have been thoroughly vetted and screened.”
When it announced the program suspension, the Department of Homeland Security did not say when processing of cases stopped. But the news broke after the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group that favors immigration restrictions, cited an internal agency report that raised concerns about fraud.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor FAIR provided that report. FAIR said the report showed that 3,218 sponsors were responsible for more than 100,000 applications and that 24 of the first 1,000 Social Security numbers used by sponsors were for deceased individuals.
Concerns about sponsors seeking a quick profit surfaced almost from the beginning. Facebook groups with names like “Sponsors US” posted dozens of messages offering and seeking financial support. Since the program began, more than 520,000 people from the four countries have arrived in the United States.