U.S. to reopen migrant sponsor program with new vetting process aimed at curbing fraud

The Biden administration is reopening an updated version of a migrant sponsorship program it paused abruptly earlier this summer due to concerns about fraud, Department of Homeland Security officials said Thursday.

First set up in late 2022 and expanded in early 2023 as a way to divert migrants away from the U.S.-Mexico border, the initiative allows up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to fly to the U.S. each month if U.S.-based sponsors successfully apply to support them.

The program, coupled with Mexico's move to take back citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who cross into the U.S. illegally, led to a dramatic drop in unlawful crossings by migrants from these four countries. But the policy was frozen in July after officials raised concerns that some would-be sponsors were filing fraudulent applications.

After a weeks-long pause, the Department of Homeland Security is restarting the program with an enhanced screening process for those applying to sponsor migrants under the policy. The government will now require those who wish to sponsor migrants to submit fingerprints for the vetting process. Officials also plan to more closely review the financial and criminal records of would-be sponsors, and increase scrutiny of repeat sponsors.

"With these updated procedures in place, DHS is resuming the issuance of new Advance Travel Authorizations and will closely monitor how this new process is operating moving forward," Homeland Security spokesperson Naree Ketudat said in a statement.

Sponsors need to be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, or hold another legal immigration status. The fraud concerns about the program centered around would-be sponsors, not the migrants, who also undergo security vetting before being allowed to book travel to the U.S. 

DHS officials said an initial probe into potential fraud within the program found that a majority of cases of concern had a "reasonable explanation," including filing errors. But officials said the review did find some cases involving fraud, including prospective sponsors using fraudulent Social Security numbers. A small number of applicants have been referred to law enforcement for further investigation and potential prosecution, officials said.

Known as CHNV due to initials of the four nationalities eligible for the initiative, the policy has been a pillar of the Biden administration's strategy to reduce migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, which soared to record highs in the past few years. So far, more than half a million migrants have arrived in the U.S. under the policy, according to government data.

The administration has created several paths for migrants to enter the U.S. legally, including through an app that distributes entry appointments for those waiting in Mexico, while increasing penalties for those who cross the southern border illegally. Most recently, President Biden effectively shut off access to the U.S. asylum system between legal border entry points, a move that officials have credited for a nearly 4-year low in illegal crossings this summer.

The CHNV policy allows eligible Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans with American sponsors to fly to the U.S., where they can apply for temporary work permits under the immigration parole law, which allows presidents to welcome foreigners on humanitarian or public interest grounds.

The Biden administration has argued the policy is justified on humanitarian grounds due to the economic crises and political turmoil in the four countries. It has also argued the program archives a public interest objective by reducing illegal immigration by migrants from these countries by offering them a legal alternative to come to the U.S.

Republican-led state officials have called the CHNV policy illegal, arguing in a lawsuit that the program circumvents limits that Congress has placed on legal immigration. But a federal judge in Texas earlier this year rejected the legal challenge, concluding that the GOP-led states had failed to show they had been harmed by the program.