The Biden administration’s decision to not renew parole for more than half a million migrants who came under a controversial migrant flight program was greeted with surprise by some when it was announced, but conservatives are warning it will not make much of a difference.
"This move is yet another optics-driven smokescreen from the Biden-Harris administration," House Homeland Security (DHS) Committee Chairman Mark Green said in a statement.
The DHS confirmed last week that the administration will not extend the two-year parole status for migrants who came in via the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV) program. The program, established in 2022 and expanded in early 2023, allows migrants to receive travel authorization and parole for two years.
BIDEN ADMIN WON'T EXTEND PAROLE FOR 500,000+ MIGRANTS IN US VIA CONTROVERSIAL FLIGHT PROGRAM
It allows 30,000 in each month, and so far nearly 530,000 migrants have flown in under the program. However, the administration said those paroles will not be renewed.
"As initially stated in the Federal Register notices, a grant of parole under these processes was for a temporary period of up to two years. This two-year period was intended to enable individuals to seek humanitarian relief or other immigration benefits for which they may be eligible, and to work and contribute to the United States," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
"Those who do not have pending immigration benefits or who have not been granted an immigration benefit during their two-year parole period will need to depart the United States prior to the expiration of their authorized parole period or may be placed in removal proceedings after the period of parole expires," they said.
While the decision was greeted with disappointment by some immigration activists, conservatives have noted that Haitians and Venezuelans may in many cases be eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) which was renewed by the Biden administration and protects from deportation. Venezuela was renewed for TPS last year, and Haiti was renewed this summer, meaning those who arrived before those redesignations are eligible. Cubans, meanwhile, can apply for green card status via the Cuban Adjustment Act. Nicaraguans do not have a clear pathway but may be able to apply for asylum.
"There are numerous other ways these inadmissible aliens could be—and likely will be—allowed to stay, including through applying for asylum or Temporary Protected Status. Even if they don’t, however, given ICE's low enforcement rates under this administration, most simply will not be priorities for removal," Green said.
Gene Hamilton, vice president and general counsel of America First Legal -- an organization that worked with more than a dozen states to sue the Biden administration over the program -- was also skeptical of the impact of the decision not to renew parole. He noted that the administration has no plans to wind down the program itself, so more migrants will be coming in. He called it "political theater."
"We're left with a situation where they've brought in all these people by the hundreds of thousands. They're going to use TPS to allow them to stay here for as long as TPS is designated. And they're not saying that they're going to end this program in terms of bringing new people in and, of course, what that all amounts to is that none of these folks are going to be going home," he told Fox News Digital.
He said he believes that the administration is trying to "save face" on border-related issues and also suggested that he believes that the administration may be nervous about the ongoing legal battle over the program, given the wide use of parole by the administration.
DHS DOCS REVEAL WHERE PAROLED MIGRANTS UNDER CONTROVERSIAL BIDEN FLIGHT PROGRAM ARE LANDING
"If they get a poor decision from their perspective about the authority to bring in these aliens into the United States under parole, they're going to be in a world of hurt. Because for them the abuse of the parole authority is really the end all, be all across the spectrum," he said.
Conservatives have long argued that the use of parole, which is limited by Congress to a case by case basis, for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.
"If they're viewed as bringing people in and then renewing it indefinitely, it undermines the integrity of their arguments that this is only on a temporary basis," Hamilton said.
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Hamilton also argued that it is hard for even conservative administrations to deport migrants in many cases, given the refusal of some countries to take back their nationals, in addition to legal limits on TPS. Consequently, he said that under a Biden or Harris administration, he doubts that there will be a significant number of deportations of these migrants.
"The chances are effectively zero," he said.
The move comes as the Biden administration has claimed its more recent policies at the southern border are working. Officials have pointed to a sharp drop in illegal encounters at the border since a presidential proclamation limiting entries in June. Officials say that since June 5, they have removed or returned more than 131,000 individuals to more than 140 countries, including operating more than 400 international repatriation flights.
"Total removals and returns over the past year exceed removals and returns in any fiscal year since 2010 and a majority of all southwest border encounters during the past three fiscal years resulted in a removal, return, or expulsion," DHS said in a release last month.
Fox News' Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.
