Report: DHS Used Over 50 Airports Worldwide to Fly Illegal Foreign Nationals into U.S.

By: Bethany Blankley | The Center Square

Under U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas the agency responsible for securing the border used more than 50 airports worldwide to fly into the country more than 400,000 foreign nationals who are legally inadmissible.

According to documents the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security obtained from DHS through a subpoena, DHS used more than 50 airports worldwide “to help process into the country more than 400,000 inadmissible aliens through the administration’s unlawful Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) mass-parole program.”

The parole program, launched in January 2023, was one of more than a dozen the committee identified as illegal and as evidence to impeach Mayorkas. Mayorkas was impeached by the Republican-led House in February. Last month, the Democratic-led Senate for the first time in history voted to dismiss the charges and not hold a hearing.

The committee first requested information from Mayorkas in April 2023 seeking details about how many foreign nationals were being flown into the country through the program. After receiving no response, the committee sent a subpoena for the information it requested last August. After recently obtaining the requested information, the committee released key findings of the data on April 30.

Roughly half of those flown into the country, 200,000, entered in the first eight months of the program’s implementation from January 2023 through August 2023, according to the data. The majority, 80% or 161,562, were flown to four Florida cities: Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa over this time period.

By mid-October 2023, there were 1.6 million inadmissible aliens waiting for travel authorizations through the CHNV program, according to the data. None of the Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans waiting for travel authorizations have a legal basis to enter the U.S. before being paroled through the CHNV program, the documents acknowledge.

“All individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible, including those paroled under the CHNV Processes,” according to the document.

“These documents expose the egregious lengths Secretary Mayorkas will go to ensure inadmissible aliens reach every corner of the country, from Orlando and Atlanta to Las Vegas and San Francisco. Secretary Mayorkas’ CHNV parole program is an unlawful sleight of hand used to hide the worsening border crisis from the American people,” committee chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., who led the charge to impeach Mayorkas, said. “Implementing a program that allows otherwise inadmissible aliens to fly directly into the U.S.––not for significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian reasons as the Immigration and Nationality Act mandates––has been proven an impeachable offense. Following our subpoena and the House’s impeachment vote––especially in light of the Senate's complete failure to fulfill its duty to hold a trial––the Committee will not rest until this administration is finally held accountable for its open-borders agenda and its devastating impact on our homeland security.”

Of the top 15 airport locations used to facilitate the CHNV program, the most are in Florida (4) and Texas (3), with the greatest number of inadmissible aliens flying into Miami by far.

According to the documents, from January through August 2023, the top airport locations and greatest number of illegal foreign nationals were flown into:

Miami, 91,821
Ft. Lauderdale, 60,461
New York City, 14,827
Houston, 7,923
Orlando, 6,043
Los Angeles, 3,271
Tampa, 3,237
Dallas, 2,256
San Francisco, 2,052
Atlanta, 1,796
Newark, 1,498
Washington, D.C., 1,472
Chicago, 496
Las Vegas, 483
Austin, 171

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, as of April 12, 404,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans were processed into the country through the program who otherwise would have been denied entry, The Center Square has reported. Since January 2023, 86,000 Cubans, 168,000 Haitians, 77,000 Nicaraguans, 102,000 Venezuelans were authorized by DHS to travel through the program to the U.S. Among them, 84,000 Cubans, 154,000 Haitians, 69,000 Nicaraguans, and 95,000 Venezuelans arrived at ports of entry and were granted parole, CBP says.

They are included in the largest number of foreign nationals illegally entering the U.S. in the first six months of fiscal 2024, more than 1.7 million, The Center Square reported.

According to CBP data, apprehensions at ports of entry in the first six months of fiscal 2024 increased by 44% from the same time period in fiscal 2023. More than half of foreign nationals encountered every month at ports of entry this fiscal year are citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, according to CBP data.

Other U.S. airport locations used for the parole program include Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Columbus, Charlotte, Denver, Detroit, Fresno, Fort Myers, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans and Oakdale, La.; Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Pittsburgh, Providence, Raleigh-Durham, Sacramento, Savannah, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and St. Louis.

International airport locations include Aruba; Nassau, Bahamas; Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada; Dublin, Ireland; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.