Unauthorized migrants are being sold access to the Biden administration’s “parole” program for as little as $5,000 in Nicaragua, The Washington Times has learned.
The scammers charge would-be migrants $1,000 upfront, which buys them contact with an American willing to fill out the forms promising financial support. Once the Department of Homeland Security approves the sponsor, the migrants pay the other $4,000 to the scammers and head to the U.S.
“Parole is being sold on the open market,” said one source who saw the scam in operation in Nicaragua.
Nicaragua is one of four countries covered by what has come to be known as the CHNV program, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ special treatment for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Emilio Gonzalez, who ran U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Bush administration, said the same scam is undoubtedly operating in other countries as well.
“If there’s a way to monetize this, people will figure it out,” he said. “This just stinks all over.”
The CHNV program allowed up to 30,000 people a month to bypass the border and fly directly into airports in the interior of the country, where they are granted a two-year pass under Mr. Mayorkas’ power of parole.
The key requirement is that they have either a person or entity in the U.S. who promises to support them financially should they be unable to do so themselves.
That is where the sales come in: Would-be migrants who don’t have family or other connections can pay to link up with a sponsor.
The Biden administration, in response to questions from The Times, said migrants are “not encouraged” to strike those sorts of deals but did not say they are against the rules.
Instead, USCIS warned migrants to be wary of scams amid the sales offers.
“Look out for individuals who attempt to contact you online or through your social media accounts to offer to be your supporter or connect you to a supporter in exchange for a fee or other form of compensation,” the agency said.
USCIS also said it tries to weed out some applications.
“The agency carefully vets every prospective supporter through a series of fraud- and security-based screening measures before confirming a properly submitted [financial support form]. Additionally, USCIS thoroughly reviews each reported case of fraud or misconduct, and may refer those cases to federal law enforcement for additional investigation,” the agency said in a statement.
The form, which can be filled out online, asks basic biographical questions about the would-be migrant and the sponsor and the sponsor’s current job, sources of income and assets.
The form prods sponsors to describe which resources they plan to use to help with housing, enrolling in school and other government benefits “for which they are eligible.”
The approval rate for financial supporters last year was roughly 96%. Once a sponsor is approved, migrants show up at an airport for a standard inspection by Customs and Border Protection officers. The approval rate was roughly 97%.
For Nicaraguans, the financial approval was 94% and CBP approval on arrival was 95%.
The problem, experts said, is that USCIS does not have the capacity to investigate whether the sponsors are fulfilling their promises of support — which is why the sale of financial affidavits is an easy risk to take.
“So what they’ve done is they’ve set up this thing that looks like it’s a requirement, that looks like it’s preventing people from gaming the system, and it’s another avenue for gaming the system,” said Matthew O’Brien, a former immigration judge and before that the head of USCIS’s national security division.
“Nobody’s verifying whether anybody can pay, or prosecuting them when they can’t, or prosecuting them when an alien goes on public benefits,” said Mr. O’Brien, now director of research at the Immigration Reform Law Institute.
He said the program stretches the parole power well beyond Congress’ intended limits.
According to the law, parole is to be used in specific cases when a migrant lacks a visa but has an “urgent” humanitarian reason or “significant public benefit” to enter the U.S.
Typical cases used to be for an immediate medical procedure or to help with a criminal case.
When the need for parole is over, the original status resumes, which usually means inadmissible noncitizenship. Congressional data shows the past two administrations paroled 5,000 to 6,000 people a year.
The Biden administration welcomed roughly 2 million parolees in 2022 and 2023, flexing the power to bring in Afghan evacuees, Ukrainians fleeing their country’s war with Russia, the CHNV arrivals and an entire other class of border migrants who are scheduling their crossings through a smartphone app.
Homeland Security has been tight-lipped about the locations where the migrants are arriving.
CBP declined an open-records request from the Center for Immigration Studies for that data. The agency cited “operational vulnerabilities that could be exploited by bad actors” if the information is made public.
The parole program has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks after revelations of crimes attributed to migrants, including the arrest of Cory Alvarez, a Haitian now accused of raping a 15-year-old fellow migrant at a state-run migrant shelter in Massachusetts.
Mr. Alvarez reportedly entered the U.S. through the CHNV program, raising questions about why he was living in a government facility rather than being supported by the person who signed his financial support application.
Meanwhile, Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan migrant accused of killing Laken Riley on a college campus in Georgia, was admitted through parole at the border.
Immigrant rights advocates say the large swath of unauthorized migrants shouldn’t be judged by the actions of criminals among them. Those who favor a crackdown say that if the U.S. were enforcing its immigration laws more effectively, the crimes wouldn’t have occurred.
