‘Abused the laws’: GOP bill vows to shut down key Biden-era policies benefitting migrants

FIRST ON FOX: A bill by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., would shut down a slew of Biden-era moves to allow migrants into the U.S. or to be protected from deportation, as Republicans look to a potential political upheaval next year to change the direction of U.S. immigration policy.

Banks is introducing the End Executive Branch Amnesty Act, which would take aim at the Biden administration’s use of humanitarian parole to allow migrants into the U.S., and to limit the use of Temporary Protected Status to protect them from deportation.

The Biden administration, as part of its efforts to expand lawful pathways for migration to curb the ongoing migrant crisis at the border, has used parole to allow in 1,450 migrants a day using the CBP One app at the border. It has also allowed over 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela into the U.S. to fly into the U.S. using a separate program.

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The Biden administration says those programs have worked to limit migration and provide an orderly process at the border. Republicans have claimed that the moves represent an abuse of parole to allow in otherwise inadmissible foreign nationals. The CHNV program was briefly paused after DHS found evidence of fraud from sponsors.

“It is a key element of our efforts to address the unprecedented level of migration throughout our hemisphere, and other countries around the world see it as a model to tackle the challenge of increased irregular migration that they too are experiencing,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejando Mayorkas said earlier this year.

Separately, the Biden administration has used Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to allow migrants from countries facing conflict and hardship to remain protected from deportation, including countries like Venezuela and Haiti.

Critics have pointed to towns like Charleroi, Pa., Springfield, Ohio, and Logansport, Indiana as examples of parts of the country that have struggled with an influx of migrants who have been paroled. 

Banks’ bill would restrict TPS designations by requiring Congress to approve them for 12 month terms, and requiring additional moves by Congress to extend them. 

The bill would also limit parole to a hard cap of 1,000 a year, significantly reduced from the hundreds of thousands allowed currently. Parole would also only be allowed for limited circumstances like emergency medical cases.

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The bill would also impose stricter eligibility and placement criteria for unaccompanied children amid reports of UACs being lost track of by authorities. Meanwhile, the use of DHS documents like Notices to Appear and CBP One app would be barred from being used for airport security checks.

While the bill would face a tough challenge in a Democratic-controlled Senate and would almost certainly be vetoed by President Biden or Harris, the bill would likely draw significant support in Republican-controlled chambers and executives. 

“The Biden-Harris administration has abused the laws on the books to grant millions of non-citizens legal status. Republicans must restore our immigration system to Congress’s original intent and ensure parole is only used as a last-ditch humanitarian measure to help foreign nationals in times of catastrophe,” Banks said in a statement.

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Banks mentioned Logansport, which is in his state of Indiana, and which has seen an estimated 5,000 Haitian migrants in a few years — in addition to the millions who have crossed the southern border.

“Over the past three years, millions of foreigners have made the dangerous and illegal journey across our southern border because of the Biden-Harris administration’s promise of future amnesty. Democrats broke our immigration system, and my bill would help fix it by ending mass parole and other magnets drawing people here illegally.”

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The bill comes with days left before Election Day, and with Vice President Harris and former President Trump dueling over who is the better candidate for border security and immigration. Harris has pointed to a recent but sharp drop in border encounters under the Biden administration and has hammered Trump for failing to back a bipartisan security bill to increase funding for the border. Trump claims that the border crisis is due to the Biden administration’s rolling back of his policies, and has promised to restore many of them and launch a campaign of mass deportation.