U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) and Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) wrote a bicameral letter on Wednesday to Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), requesting an explanation of the department’s careless decision to drastically expand immigration parole programs in the face of a historic border crisis.
The DHS recently announced an expansion of its purported parole authority to include the monthly parole of more than 30,000 illegal migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela into the United States.
Additionally, DHS and the Department of Justice have announced a forthcoming proposed rule that seeks to address the “unprecedented surge … [and] encounters at our border” by “incentiviz[ing] the use of new and existing lawful processes.
According to Vance, the American people have a right to know the reasoning behind the Biden administration’s decision, as well as, more significantly, the legal basis for it.
“Since the day they took office, President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have purposefully and maliciously eroded our nation’s border security. They have presided over the worst border crisis we’ve seen in decades and more illegal immigration than any administration in recent history. Now, they aim to sidestep Congress and the law by granting parole to hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants. This is a massive gift to the drug cartels and human traffickers that are killing Americans by the day and wreaking havoc on our country,” Vance said.
According to Biggs, Mayorkas stated in sworn testimony that parole is “judged on an individual case-by-case basis,” but he has not found any proof to support this statement.
“The department’s latest announcement reveals that it will continue to proceed and even accelerate this abuse as parole grants will increase by 33 percent from just last month. It’s unclear where the department derives legal authority to parole groups of this size and how this policy change enhances border security. As usual, the department has some explaining to do, ” Biggs said.
RJ Hauman, director of Government Relations and Communications at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said this is a necessary move by Vance and Biggs.
According to Hauman, President Biden’s parole programs intend to usurp congressional power and open up new, illegal routes for border crossers.
“When the monthly cap on beneficiaries is added up, it allows up to 360,000 additional aliens to enter the country every year for the purpose of staying permanently. The American people didn’t ask for these programs, and lawmakers didn’t create them. But that doesn’t matter to the open-borders advocates running the show in the Biden administration. All that is left for President Biden to do at this point is to order the border to be erased from the map,” Hauman said.
NumbersUSA director of government relations Rosemary Jenks applauded Vance and Biggs for calling on the Biden administration to answer for its most recent misuse of the parole system based on national origins.
“Immigration law clearly states that parole must be granted on a ‘case-by-case basis,’ not a ‘national-origin basis.’ Not only is the Biden/Mayorkas plan illegal, it is discriminatory and will only worsen this historic border surge,” Jenks said.
Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project, rebuked the Biden administration for its misuse of upholding the United States laws and Constitution.
“The president of the United States is sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States. The Biden administration has shown that it is intent on doing the exact opposite with its handling of the border and immigration. By law, parole is only to be used on a case-by-case basis and in situations where admitting the individual to the United States represents a compelling public interest. This mass importation program does not come close to meeting those standards,” Howell said
The lawmakers requested Mayorkas prompt response to the following questions: From what source does DHS derive its legal authority to parole more than 30,000 monthly migrants into the United States? From what source does DHS derive its legal authority to parole migrants before they reach the United States border? Will the migrants paroled pursuant to this policy be transported into the United States using federal funds? How does this policy “enhance border security”? Under what criteria were the countries Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua selected for this program?
The letter included nine Republican U.S. Senate cosigners and 23 Republican U.S. House cosigners in support.
“I hope that Secretary Mayorkas can take some time away from preparing his impeachment defense to fulfill his obligations to promptly answer these questions,” Howell said.
The letter asked for Mayorkas to respond by January 27th.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “JD Vance” by JD Vance. Photo “Andy Biggs” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
