On a recent trip to the Texas-Mexico border, border security expert Victor Avila discovered non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are pre-processing would-be illegal aliens in Mexico before sending them to U.S. ports of entry.

These pre-processed aliens are not considered illegal—and are not counted as such—because they are entering the country with Humanitarian Parole paperwork.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, “Parole allows an individual, who may be inadmissible or otherwise ineligible for admission into the United States, to be paroled into the United States for a temporary period.”

Parole can only be granted for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit,” and the parole paperwork must be renewed annually.

U.S. CIS states, “Parole is not intended to be used solely to avoid normal visa processing procedures and timelines, to bypass inadmissibility waiver processing, or to replace established refugee processing channels.”

Avila, a retired special agent for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was authorized to give out parole paperwork in very specific circumstances, generally for confidential informants or in a matter of life and death.

“You cannot give a parole to an alien just to enter the country,” Avila told Texas Scorecard.

“The parole is usually good for a year. Some of these paroles are attached with employment authorizations; for some, employment authorizations come later on [at] the final destination,” explains Avila.

However, the paperwork changes their status. “They’re not considered illegal anymore,” says Avila. “They’re not counted in the stats as illegal.”

According to Avila, “They came in with a permit, and it is completely illegal for two reasons. One, you cannot issue that parole for these types of people. Second, this is breaking all our asylum criteria, and an NGO [or] a private citizen cannot be giving this paperwork out on the Mexican side.”

Avila has identified two NGOs participating in the pre-processing on the Mexican side of the border: CHIRLA, which stands for the Coalition for Immigrant Human Rights, and Al Otro Lado, which means “on the other side.”

Despite the apparent illegality of these pre-processing procedures, not much can be done quickly enough to stop this if the federal government refuses to enforce its own laws.

“The only two people that can stop this are Biden and Abbott,” says Avila.

President Joe Biden will clearly not stop the invasion, and although Abbott has invoked the invasion clauses of the U.S. and Texas Constitutions, “he hasn’t implemented anything,” said Avila. Abbott is not using the Texas National Guard or the Texas Department of Public Safety troopers stationed at the border as part of Operation Lone Star to halt the illegal border-crossers.

“None of that has even been set up. There is no operational plan. There are no buses. There is no additional personnel down there. It was just words. It was just a tweet,” said Avila. “And it’s very disheartening to me because I talked to some DPS troopers and [they] didn’t even know … that a declaration had been said or at least mentioned by their boss. So, it hasn’t been disseminated down.”

Nevertheless, “it is now all up to Abbott,” said Avila. “Abbott has the power and the authority under the U.S. Constitution to repel these people from coming in. Someone has to stand up and be courageous enough to do it.”

Avila says Texas must “hold the line” and place DPS troopers along the river to say, “Go back! Go back! You can’t come in.”

“We need to disrupt it because there will be a ripple effect. First of all, you’re going to disrupt what’s going on in Mexico,” said Avila. “The cartels are going to be going, ‘What the heck just happened? They’re just sending the 400 people back. That’s not supposed to happen.’ You’re also going to disrupt whatever’s going on with the NGOs; you’re going to disrupt Washington, D.C.”

“And the one that holds the key here is Governor Abbott,” he added.

Ken Cuccinelli, former attorney general of Virginia and senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America, has laid out a plan for Abbott to utilize his constitutional authority to repel and return illegal border-crossers to Mexico, with the support of the Texas Legislature. This should provoke a strong response from the Biden administration, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton should be ready to fend off their interference through the courts.

Securing the border and protecting Texans is one of eight GOP legislative priorities for the upcoming session. So far, 40 Texas counties have taken local action by declaring an invasion on the Texas-Mexico border and urging Abbott to repel the ongoing invasion: Kinney, Goliad, Terrell, Parker, Wise, Edwards, Atascosa, Presidio, Tyler, Live Oak, Rockwall, Johnson, Wilson, Hardin, Chambers, Ellis, Orange, Liberty, Throckmorton, Madison, Jasper, Van Zandt, Wichita, Clay, Jack, Hunt, Montague, Hood, Wharton, Burnet, Collin, McMullen, Hamilton, Lavaca, Ector, Leon, Navarro, Waller, Fannin, and Shackelford.

Sydnie Henry

A born and bred Texan, Sydnie serves as the Managing Editor for Texas Scorecard. She graduated from Patrick Henry College with a B.A. in Government and is utilizing her research and writing skills to spread truth to Texans.

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