Rick Scott demands answers on ‘secret’ Biden migrant flight program
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., called a recent report about a majority of migrant flights landing in Florida that are part of President Joe Biden’s controversial parole and release admissions program “unacceptable” and demanded answers.
“I will not allow Biden to put Floridians in danger by flying unvetted illegal aliens into our state,” Scott said.
Scott demanded answers following a report by the Center for Immigration Studies that said the bulk of the 386,000 illegal immigrants permitted to fly to interior U.S. airports as part of the parole and release admissions program have been directed to Florida.
The senator sent a letter of concern on March 13 to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Scott requested the following information from the department by March 27, which his office said they have yet to receive a response:
- Of the 320,000 illegal aliens who have arrived at 43 U.S. airports via CBP One, how many are unaccompanied alien children?
- Provide a complete list of all U.S. airports to which CBP One passengers have arrived.
- Provide a complete list of all domestic and international commercial airlines CBP One passengers have traveled on into the U.S.
- Are domestic commercial airline passengers made aware that they are sharing a flight with CBP One passengers who lack basic identification documents?
- Has DHS identified any CBP One passengers as threats to the homeland following their domestic travel?
- How does TSA verify a CBP One passenger’s identification with countries with which the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with, such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela?
- Provide examples of “acceptable alternate identification” identified by TSA.
- Provide examples of “special circumstances” under which alternative identification may be used.
- Since January 1, 2024, and March 10, 2024, how many illegal aliens have DHS approved transit into the United States via a U.S. airport?
a. Of those, how many are unaccompanied alien children? - Are American taxpayer dollars being used to fund CBP One passenger flights?
The Center for Immigration Studies reported that the information came from government documents listed under the “CHNV program” or the “Advanced Travel Authorization” program.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press conference Wednesday that it is his administration’s “hope” to get the program “shut down.”
“We’ve been after them on this parole for a long time, we’ve actually won in court,” DeSantis said.
The governor said it “may be the case” that Biden is “bringing people in under this illegal parole program,” but Florida has not seen large numbers throughout communities “all of a sudden.”
“I can tell you, we’re not a sanctuary state,” DeSantis said. “We don’t have sanctuary cities, and we’ve took action to where you’re not getting a driver’s license, you’re not getting ID cards. So you are better off in New York, or Illinois or California.”
DeSantis press secretary Jeremy Redfern pointed to the efforts in Florida that make the state an “undesirable destination for anyone in the country illegally.”
“Since taking office, Governor DeSantis has championed the state’s efforts to enact private-sector E-Verify, increase penalties for human trafficking and smuggling, and crack down on illegal aliens who commit crimes,” Redfern said.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, the Department of Homeland Security under Biden has opted not to disclose the list of numerous U.S. airports where it has sanctioned these direct flights from overseas for specific inadmissible individuals.
However, an analysis conducted by the center with publicly available data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s website, specifically focusing on encounters by Office of Field Operations airport customs officers with the designated nationalities eligible for the program, highlighted the airports that likely accommodate a significant portion of arrivals from overseas.
Initial indications point to a potential majority of these migrant travelers arriving at international airports within the jurisdiction of Florida. Florida emerges as the primary destination and customs processing hub for this parole-and-release program via direct flights, with nearly 326,000 arrivals recorded from its inception through February of this year.
The data analysis further reveals that smaller numbers of arrivals were observed in areas encompassing Houston, New York, both northern and southern California and the Washington, D.C. vicinity. However, the data indicates that Florida experiences the highest volume of initial landings and subsequent releases of migrants.
DeSantis said his office can’t verify the numbers of migrants coming into the state through the program because the Biden administration doesn’t give “any information on it.”
“It is secret because they’re not telling anybody,” DeSantis said. “They don’t tell us anytime somebody comes in.”
DeSantis said his administration is suing the Biden administration for the “illegal program.”
“We know it’s illegal and not constitutional, but they are not coordinating with state government at all,” DeSantis said. “If they throw six people on a commercial flight coming from a foreign country, there’s no acknowledgement at all to state or local authorities, that’s just the fact. And so that’s why that’s a double reason about why what he’s doing is very problematic.”
The program, launched with questionable legal standing, purports to curtail unlawful border crossings by transporting individuals directly over the southern border into the interior, subsequently granting them parole upon arrival.
“The federal government is encouraging illegal immigration and even aiding these individuals to enter the country,” DeSantis communications director Bryan Griffin said. “They’ve cloaked these secretive flights as a lawful parole program. The state of Florida is fighting back in Court to end this practice and stop the federal government’s illegal immigrant importation efforts.”
The Biden administration’s reasoning for the program was to “reduce the number of individuals crossing unlawfully between ports of entry.”
Launched initially for individuals from Venezuela and extended in January 2023 to include nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Colombia, the program grants approvals for flight travel for individuals aiming to illegally cross the border, but are still situated in other countries.
Instead of attempting to cross the southern border unlawfully, these individuals arrange commercial airline passage for themselves and receive temporary, easily renewable “humanitarian parole” from Customs and Border Protection officers upon arrival at the airport. Participants in the parole program are also eligible for renewable work permits.
In 2023, the program expanded its eligibility criteria to include individuals from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Ecuador, bringing the total number of eligible nationalities to nine.
The report also said that from FY 2023 through February 2024, approximately 306,505 individuals, primarily from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, arrived via flight into the jurisdiction of the Miami Field Office, which encompasses the southern region of Florida.
During the same period, the Tampa Field Office, responsible for the remaining areas of Florida, reportedly handled an additional 19,490 passengers. This brings the total number of presumed humanitarian parole grants by U.S. customs in international airports in Florida to 325,995.
“This is but one of the many examples of how Biden’s egregious and unlawful immigration policies are disproportionately taxing the resources of certain states,” Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a statement to Florida’s Voice. “As with Biden’s other unlawful policies, we will continue to fight the CHNV program in court.”
