WASHINGTON, CMC—The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says the Humanitarian Parole program, which allows 30,000 people from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Haiti to live and work in the United States for two years, was the victim of massive fraud. As a result, the program was temporarily suspended.
Internal DHS documents reveal that the department automatically accepted applications without verifying the information provided by sponsors or applicants.
According to the DHS – an internal investigation by the department shows that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reviewed thousands of applications “to identify patterns, trends, and indicators of potential fraud.”
The internal report suggests massive fraud in the application process, specifically fraudulent information used in thousands of documents that a sponsor files with USCIS for each alien—lying for conditional stay.
The probe found evidence of fraud that included using false social security numbers, including those of deceased individuals.
It also found that applications listed the same physical address.
“There were approximately 100 addresses listed on more than 19,000 forms, and many conditional applicants applied from a single property (including a mobile home park, a warehouse, and a storage unit). Additionally, many applications were submitted through the same I.P. address.”
It was also found that the same answers to the I-134A questions were provided on hundreds of applications. In some cases, over 10,000 applicants used the same answer.
Based on this, the Biden administration has temporarily suspended the program. Tens of thousands of applications will be manually reviewed, and any discrepancies will result in their invalidation.