BREAKING: Biden admin freezes controversial migrant flight program after massive fraud exposed

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From Fox News: The Biden administration has put a controversial program that allows tens of thousands of migrants from four nations to fly or travel directly into the U.S. on hold, after a report circulated internally showing significant amounts of fraud in the program.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Fox News Digital that “out of an abundance of caution,” it has temporarily paused the issuing of advance travel authorizations for the program — which allows up to 30,000 nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) to travel into the U.S. each month and enter legally under the administration’s use of parole if they meet certain conditions.

A congressional source had told Fox News Digital the pause came in mid-July after an internal report unearthed large amounts of fraud in applications for those sponsoring the applicants. DHS said the pause was occurring as it reviewed sponsor applications. The focus is on issues with supporter filings, and not with the filings from the beneficiaries of the program themselves.

The report notes that the DHS program itself does not arrange flights, and migrants are responsible to pay for their own flights.   The program was reportedly paused on July 6 for Venezuelans, and then paused for Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans on July 18 when massive fraud was uncovered by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a conservative immigration group.

The FAIR report notes that a whopping 2,622,076 applications were received for the program, as of April 17, 2024. Out of those, nearly 529,000 have been approved, and 118,000 have been denied.

Below are excerpts from the FAIR report detailing the alarming amount of fraud, including a large number having the same sponsor, including dead people, and same addresses, including storage units.

•   IP Addresses
The report reveals that the 100 IP addresses accounted for 51,133 of the Form I-134A applications submitted. In one example, an IP address located in Tijuana, Mexico, was used 1,328 times. The report states that, on average, each IP address associated with these programs submitted 2.2 application forms.

•   Sponsors’ Social Security Numbers (SSN)
The internal report found that a total of 100,948 forms had been filed by 3,218 different serial sponsors. It also notes that sponsors often did not provide their income (even though the sponsor is financially required to support the alien).  Sponsors that did provide their incomes “often [did] not meet the financial threshold to support the number of parolees they intend to sponsor.” The report also highlights that applicants used SSNs of deceased individuals, and states that “24 of the 1,000 most used sponsor SSNs belong to a deceased individual.”

•   Sponsor and Parolee Phone Number
The review found that phone numbers submitted on I-134A application forms were used many times. In fact, the report states that “One sponsor phone number was reported on over 2,000 forms submitted by 200 different sponsors.”  Further, “[o]ne parolee phone number was reported on 626 different forms and was associated with 238 different parolee last names and 142 different parolee addresses.”

•   Sponsor and Parolee Email Addresses
DHS also found that sponsors filled out multiple forms for multiple aliens seeking parole. According to the report, the most frequently used sponsor e-mail address was listed on 363 different forms. Further, the most frequently used parolee e-mail address was listed on 1,723 different forms collectively submitted by 477 different sponsors.

•   Repetitive Text Field
The Department scrutinized answers to questions on the I-134A form to determine how often the answers reoccurred verbatim and found that the exact same responses were used over and over.  In one instance, the same answer was used 4,978 times, while a slightly different variation of the answer (using “she” versus “he”) was used 2,837 times, and another slightly different variation of the answer (using “the”) was used another 2,557 times.

FAIR also shared details showing much of the data provided by the sponsors was fictitious, including zip codes, phone numbers and file numbers that did not even exist.

The applications also used the same addresses over and over. “…there were 100 addresses used between 124 and 739 times on unique forms – and these 100 addresses were associated with 19,062 forms. The properties associated with the addresses on the forms include mobile home parks, warehouses, storage units, apartment complexes and commercial properties. The review found that 739 forms used the address from a single mobile home park, another 596 were attributable to a single warehouse, and 501 had an address to a storage unit.”

The Biden administration first announced the program in October 2022, to allow a “limited number” of Venezuelans to fly directly into the U.S., as long as they had not entered illegally, had a sponsor in the U.S., and passed certain biometric and biographical vetting.

In January 2023, the program was expanded to include Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans, permitting up to 30,000 people per month to fly into the U.S. Not only do the migrants get an easy path into the US, but they also receive work permits and a two-year authorization to live in the U.S.

“Out of an abundance of caution, DHS has temporarily paused the issuance of advanced travel authorizations for new beneficiaries while it undertakes a review of supporter applications. DHS will restart application processing as quickly as possible, with appropriate safeguards,” a DHS spokesperson declared.

“The multi-layered screening and vetting for advanced travel authorizations is separate from the screening of U.S.-based supporters,” the spokesperson also claimed, adding, “DHS has not identified issues of concern relating to the screening and vetting of beneficiaries.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson reacted, writing, “Shut it down permanently. This program should have never existed in the first place. It’s just another way the Biden-Harris Administration has welcomed hundreds of thousands of aliens into our country, unchecked.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) wrote, “It’s almost like we predicted months ago that there would be increased efforts to decrease border releases – this is all an electoral fiction to cover up for past abuse of law by @KamalaHarris & @JoeBiden.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) also reacted in outrage, writing, “We now have proof that Biden and Harris were flying illegal immigrants into our communities WITHOUT EVEN VETTING WHO THEY ARE. “Border Czar” Harris didn’t just fail to secure our border. She allowed massive fraud, waste and abuse to let CRIMINALS & TERRORISTS into our communities. I’ve been sounding the alarm about the national security threats of these flights for YEARS & even the FBI has said threats are way up because of it. This report is terrifying for every American.”

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