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.
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.