The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Monday that irregularities in the Humanitarian Parole Program processes were detected in the sponsors and not in the beneficiaries.
It was for this reason, according to media reports , that the DHS decided to temporarily freeze travel permits, which generated uncertainty among the beneficiaries of this program. However, the US Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP) assured that it is working to resume the processing of applications “as soon as possible, with appropriate safeguards.”
CBP also stressed that the irregularities found are mostly linked to the controls and investigations required for advance travel authorizations, which are independent of the control of the sponsors.
However, a date for lifting the temporary suspension has not yet been set; officials insist the pause will continue while DHS reviews the applications.
Amidst all the instability surrounding the issue, immigration expert Ángel Leal told local channels that there are no legal options to speed up pending processes and warned about possible deceptions by people who promise to expedite the process.
Recently, the US House Committee on Homeland Security announced an investigation into the Biden Administration’s decision to halt the humanitarian parole program for selected countries: Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti , and Nicaragua .
DHS revealed that to date, 100,948 humanitarian parole application forms had been completed by 3,218 serial sponsors, and that 24 of the 1,000 most frequently used numbers belonged to deceased individuals, one of the reasons, according to the agency, that prompted the pause in processing until further notice.
As of July, more than 106,000 Cubans had benefited from the program, of whom some 104,000 had already traveled to the United States and received parole. In total, as of June, nearly 495,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans had entered the U.S. under this program.
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Written by ADN America Staff.
