On Wednesday, Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee sharply criticized Ur Jaddou, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), for what they called failed leadership under the Biden administration. The lawmakers accused USCIS of allowing mass illegal immigration and mismanaging the humanitarian parole program, which they claimed has been riddled with fraud.
USCIS, a federal agency responsible for overseeing legal immigration, faced tough questioning from Republican representatives, including Texas Rep. Troy Nehls. “You totally blew it,” Nehls told Jaddou. “The American people are sick and tired, and you should all be fired. Well, you will be shortly because the American people said, ‘We ain’t going to tolerate this anymore.’”
Rep. Tom McClintock, who leads the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, also criticized the agency’s performance, pointing to the negative economic effects of the administration’s immigration policies. “If anyone wonders why real wages for working families have declined under this administration, look no further than the agency before us today,” McClintock said. He also raised concerns over the release of migrants without proper interviews, questioning why credible fear assessments were often skipped.
Jaddou responded by stating that USCIS, which is mainly funded through applicant fees, is underfunded. However, McClintock rejected this explanation, arguing that the agency’s funding had been sufficient before the surge of illegal immigration.
The committee’s focus also turned to the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, known as CHNV. McClintock described the program as a “fraud-ridden” system that allowed over 530,000 migrants to enter the U.S. He claimed that the parole system, originally designed for individual review, had been transformed into a mass admission program, admitting up to 1,000 migrants a day from the four countries.
The CHNV program, which began in January 2023, allows up to 30,000 migrants per month from these countries to enter the U.S. on a temporary basis. The program was briefly paused in July due to fraud concerns but was reinstated shortly afterward.
McClintock also criticized the program’s sponsorship system, which allows migrants to sponsor others. He described it as a form of illegal chain migration, claiming that one parolee could immediately sponsor another upon arrival. Jaddou confirmed that 86% of the sponsors are U.S. citizens or lawful residents, but she did not explain the other 14%.
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona raised additional concerns, citing evidence of widespread fraud in the CHNV program. He mentioned reports of multiple sponsor applications using identical information, including Social Security numbers, email addresses, and zip codes. “This program is rife with fraud,” Biggs stated, accusing the administration of failing to fix the issues after the program’s temporary shutdown in July.
In response to further questioning, Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt criticized the administration for what he described as a deliberate effort to legalize illegal immigration. “Biden was upset the American people were complaining about the increase in illegal immigration numbers at the border,” Hunt said. “So, what did Biden do? He legalized illegal immigration by expanding the intended use of parole to fit his needs.”
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