Biden-Harris admin gives billions in benefits to 'refugees' who enter the country under 'parole' program

A refugee program under the Biden-Harris administration that prioritizes Cubans, Haitians, Nigaraguans, and Venezuelans for entry into the US also provides billions in monetary benefits to those refugees. The program, known as CHNV, is permitted to admit up to 30,000 people per month. Border Protection figures show that over 520,000 persons from those favored nations used this program to enter and remain in the US between January 2023 and June 2024.

Applicants who hail from those nations can gain a sponsor in the US and then fly to the US where they apply for asylum. Those CHNV applicants then have two years to live and work legally in the US. The program is often called a parole program because applicants enter the US, apply for asylum, and are then paroled into the US to live and work freely pending a court date. The administration has also continued to extend a "temporary protected status" for Haitians who illegally entered the US and remained while there was unrest or turmoil in their nation. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently extended that order again.

This is the same program that was paused in August due to the uncovering of massive fraud that showed that sponsors were paying for the migrants to come to the US under the program. 3,200 sponsors signed up to sponsor 101,000 asylum seekers under the program, making it clear that these were not personal relationships and that the system was likely being abused. On top of that, the names given by sponsors were found, in some cases, to be dead people. The addresses given as the home addresses were often vacant, or storage spaces. These fake sponsors also used fake zip codes. 

However, the program was quickly restarted by the Biden-Harris administration, with the Department of Homeland Security saying they had "incorporated additional vetting." Lawmakers demanded it be ended entirely.

Once they arrive in the US, they are immediately eligible for all welfare programs, such as food, medical, and cash aid. 98.3 percent of the Haitian applicants from January 2023 to June 2024 were approved for the program. "In that time frame," the Daily Mail reported, per a lawsuit filed against the Biden-Harris administration to stop the program, "78,838 Haitians had applied to the program with the Department of Homeland Security adjudicating 64,285 cases. Of those, 63,214 applications were approved."

Broken down by nationality, the program saw 109,000 Cubans, 205,000 Haitians, 90,000 Nicaraguans, and 115,000 Venezuelans enter as part of that 520,000 number. Those refugee asylum seekers are also eligible for Medicaid and SNAP, or food stamp benefits. Florida, Tennessee and Arkansas have all made complaints to the Biden-Harris administration over the extra costs with which they were burdened as a result of the government's actions. 

Analysis from the Daily Mail showed that if every Haitian took part in the Medicaid program, at $9,175 per person, that would result in an annual cost of $1.8 billion for US taxpayers. Food stamps for that population would come in at $451 million, and general welfare, the outlet added, would rise to $1.2 billion. All told that's a whopping $3.4 billion.

The Daily Mail noted that their figures come straight from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Medicaid Commission.