A recent report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General has found that DHS failed to keep track of nearly 80,000 Afghan evacuees who were granted two-year paroles in the United States.
It has been suggested that because DHS has failed to monitor the 77,000 Afghans, it cannot keep track of all other inadmissible aliens on parole in the United States, chiefly those from South American countries.
“If the Biden administration has no plan to handle 77,000 Afghan parolees, forget about them having a plan to remove 1.1 million inadmissible aliens paroled in via the CBP One and CHNV mass-parole schemes since last January,” posted the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee Republicans on X.
Following President Joe Biden’s cataclysmic withdrawal from Afghanistan in late summer of 2021, approximately 97,000 Afghan evacuees were brought into the United States by the federal government as part of Operation Allies Welcome, per the report.
77,000 were granted humanitarian parole for 2 years under the Immigration and Nationality Act. DHS’ ability to grant humanitarian parole does not equal permanent lawful residence or citizenship.
However, according to Fox News National Correspondent Bill Melugin, “The report finds that DHS has no process or component whatsoever for monitoring parole expiration for the Afghan parolees, or any humanitarian parole recipients in general.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reportedly thought the matter was being handled by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. USCIS denied this charge, stating they are not a law enforcement component and ICE said they are understaffed for such a task.
“If you thought the government was monitoring the many hundreds of thousands of migrants the Biden admin has released into the US for 2-year humanitarian parole grants over the last few years, and removing those who overstay and become unlawfully in the US, you’d be wrong,” Melguin posted on X.
“No agency was tracking it, and the government has been asleep at the wheel, according to this DHS OIG report,” he continued.
Meanwhile, according to CBP’s reported numbers, between January 2023 and April 2024, 434,800 aliens from CHNV countries—Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—have been granted parole.
More than 500,000 individuals have also scheduled appointments for entry via the CBP One app—which Texas is currently suing the Biden administration over.
Notably, only three Afghan parolees were removed from the U.S. between July 2021 and December 2022; one for a sexual abuse conviction, one for a murder conviction, and one for an “indication of terrorism-related activity.”
Melguin explained that while DHS has responded to the report concurring with the inspector general’s findings and stating that processes for terminating parole and referring Afghans to ICE are in the works, they don’t expect completion until July 2025.
