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Washington, D.C. (September 21, 2023) - Information obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit reveals that more than 220,000 individuals from four countries have taken advantage over the past year of a direct-flight and parole program created by the Biden administration. This program, part of the broader CBP One parole program, allows inadmissible aliens to make appointments to fly directly to airports in the interior of the United States, completely bypassing the border and thus avoiding inclusion in the Border Patrol monthly “encounter” statistics.
Between late October 2022 and mid-September 2023, the administration approved a total of 221,456 Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans, and Nicaraguans for air travel (at their own expense) to dozens of U.S. airports. The specific airports were not identified; the government cited a law enforcement exception as the reason for redacting that information. The administration also did not release the numbers or receiving airports for the Colombians or Ukrainians who have taken advantage of the direct-flight program. But the data released for the four nationalities likely represents the majority of individuals who arrived by air over the past year and offers an early glimpse of the program’s significant growth.
Todd Bensman, the Center’s senior national security fellow and author of the article, emphasized, “CBP owes it to the American people to be fully forthcoming about where all of these immigrants are landing, so that the communities they are joining can plan for the influx of migrants. The Center will continue to push for transparency through our litigation.”
The direct-flight parole program recently became even bigger; the Biden administration added Hondurans, El Salvadorans, and Guatemalans to the program in August. Those numbers are also unknown.
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