Trump freezes applications for Biden-era migrant programs amid fraud, national security concerns

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The Trump administration has frozen applications for three Biden-era migrant parole programs, including for Ukrainians and migrants from Latin America, as it continues to crack down on what conservatives say was an abuse of parole by the prior administration.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has implemented an agency wide administrative pause on all pending benefit requests for migrants filing under the three programs.

"This is an administrative hold on all pending USCIS Benefit Requests filed by Parolees Under the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) Process, Processes for Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) Process, or Family Reunification Parole (FRP) Process," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

"This is pending the completion of additional vetting to identify any fraud, public safety, or national security concerns," they said.

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President Donald Trump had already ordered an end to multiple parole programs on his first day in office, which was quickly enacted. The DHS has also allowed for those in the U.S. on parole processes to have their parole status canceled. 

However, CBS News first reported that a Feb. 14 memo also pauses pending requests already allowed into the U.S. under three programs. The first program is Uniting for Ukraine, which used humanitarian parole to allow in Ukrainians in the wake of the Russian invasion.

The CHNV program was highly controversial and allowed for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to receive travel authorization and fly into the United States under parole. Over 500,000 migrants flew in under that program. It was briefly paused last year after DHS discovered fraud in sponsor applications, a development first reported by Fox News Digital.

The third program impacts the family reunification parole process, which was opened up to nationals from countries including Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba and Haiti, and allowed nationals who have relatives who are U.S. citizens or green card holders to enter the U.S. for parole as they also apply for a green card.

"The Family Reunification Parole process promotes family unity consistent with our laws and our values," then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in 2023. 

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At the time, the Biden administration said the expanded "lawful pathways" were part of an effort to reduce illegal crossings, but Republicans accused the administration of abusing limited parole power and allowing in migrants who should not legally have entered.

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A DHS memo from last month said that parole "has been repeatedly abused by the Executive Branch over the past several decades in ways that are blatantly inconsistent with the statute."

"Most important, the parole statute does not authorize categorical parole programs that make aliens presumptively eligible on the basis of some set of broadly applicable criteria," it says.

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The new pause is the latest in a slew of measures to overhaul the immigration system and shake off programs championed by the Biden administration. The Trump administration has suspended refugee resettlement and has also ended the use of the CBP One app to allow migrants to be paroled into the U.S. at ports of entry.

That is connected to a mass deportation operation launched by the administration on day one, as well as a rapid-fire series of moves to increase border security. The administration has also ordered a review of parole programs, and has also taken limits off the use of expedited removals in order to quickly remove recently-arrived illegal immigrants.