Central American migrants climb over a border wall into the U.S. in 2018 - Screenshot courtesy of CBS News on YouTube

Central American migrants climb over a border wall into the U.S. in 2018 - Screenshot courtesy of CBS News on YouTube

Report: Biden spending taxpayer funds to fly Central American migrants into the U.S

Posted by: | |Categories Around The World, Featured, Homeland Security
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WASHINGTON, DC – Taxpayer-funded flights will be crisscrossing the sky under President Biden’s dizzying immigration plan that offers flights into the country to migrants from Central America under the reactivated Central American Migrant program (CAM) while forcing Haitian immigrants to be flown out of the U.S. and back to Haiti.

The administration claims the CAM is designed to protect migrants journeying to the U.S., yet the same officials are flying Haitian immigrants out of the country.

The Biden administration is permitting U.S.-based adult migrants over 21 to petition for their families in Central America to join them in the U.S. as part of the re-opened Obama-era Central American Minors (CAM) program.

CAM was terminated under the Trump administration in 2017.

Upon re-opening the program in March, Biden expanded the categories of migrants eligible to petition for their families to enter the United States to join them. Initially, parents living inside the United States could petition for their children.

Under the new changes, the right to petition has been extended to any legal guardian, parents granted emergency “parole,” deportation relief, or even adults who have pending claims for asylum which have not yet been approved.

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration issued a joint statement describing the program’s changes:

“The reopening of CAM coupled with eligibility expansion are components of President Biden’s multi-pronged approach to address the challenges of irregular migration throughout North and Central America.  A greater number of qualifying individuals now have access to this program. 

“Eligibility to petition will now be extended to include legal guardians (in addition to parents) who are in the United States, pursuant to any of the following qualifying categories: lawful permanent residence; temporary protected status; parole; deferred action; deferred enforced departure; or withholding of removal. 

“In addition, this expansion of eligibility will now include certain U.S.-based parents or legal guardians who have a pending asylum application or a pending U.S. visa petition filed before May 15, 2021.

In addition to re-starting and expanding the program, which allows migrants who came to the country legally or who entered the country illegally but were then given legal status by previous government amnesty programs, to petition for their families to be authorized to enter the U.S.

The Biden administration will then offer flights at taxpayer expense over the southern border wall and into the U.S.

Initially, the administration said it would reopen cases that were closed when the Trump administration ended the program:

“As shared in early June, the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration have taken steps toward reinstituting and improving the Central American Minors (CAM) program since our agencies launched the first phase of reopening CAM on March 10.

“As part of this phased approach, we have continued to reopen cases that were closed when CAM was terminated in 2018 and have expanded eligibility of those able to petition for their children’s access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.”

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 The joint statement expressed the administration’s pride in bringing more migrants into the U.S.:

“We are proud to announce that the [Biden administration’s] CAM application has been approved. New applications will be accepted beginning September 14. Throughout August, resettlement support center partners were trained to support families during the process…

“We are firmly committed to welcoming people to the United States with humanity and respect, and reuniting families. We are delivering on our promise to promote safe, orderly, and humane migration from Central America through this expansion of legal pathways to seek humanitarian protection in the United States.”

CAM has been reinstated at a time when U.S.-based refugee resettlement agencies are currently struggling to handle thousands of Afghan refugees flown from Afghanistan to Ft. Bliss and Holloman Air Force Base.

The original purpose of the CAM program was to provide a process for parents inside the U.S. to bring their minor children into the country safely, thereby reducing the number of unaccompanied children making the dangerous trip across the Mexico/U.S border.

The program was expanded in 2016 by the Obama administration, when Joe Biden was Vice President, in-country processing eligibility to married sons and daughters over 21 and their adult “caregiver” relatives, including grandparents, siblings, aunts, and uncles. Obama also expanded the categories of migrants able to petition for their families to include any “lawfully present” adults.

Dr. Nayla Rush, a senior researcher at the Center for Immigration Studies, explained that the term “lawfully present” does not require legal status. The category includes those “legally present” immigrants who received Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED).

Although the program has been heavily criticized by opponents as being another avenue for illegal immigrants entering the U.S. without proper vetting and security checks at taxpayer expense, CAM does answer a promise the Biden administration made to immigrants who answered his call to come to the U.S. sent by announcing leniency in immigration enforcement when he first took office.

The administration sent a message to migrants once the border crisis became unmanageable that the government would find a safe process to bring them here if they waited on the other side of the border.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently told Central Americans flooding the border to stand by:

“We are not saying don’t come. We are saying don’t come now, because we will be able to provide a safe and orderly process to them.”

To his credit, President Biden did tell the American people that just such a plan was on the way. In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Biden addressed the border crisis:

“I can say quite clearly don’t come over. And the process of getting set up, and it’s not gonna take a whole long time, is to be able to apply for asylum in place. So don’t leave your town or city or community.

“We’re gonna make sure we have facilities in those cities and towns run by department of — by DHS and also access with HHS, the Health and Human Services, to say you can apply for asylum from where you are right now.”

Although the Biden administration is bending over backwards to bring Central American and Afghan immigrants into the country and refuses to strictly enforce immigration at the border in general, the government is cracking down on one specific group.

The rush of Haitian migrants flooding across a shallow part of the Rio Grande into Del Rio, Texas, in the past week has created a humanitarian crisis that Biden is having trouble controlling, despite blocking media access to the site by air.

As the press hammers the administration over the sight of migrants huddled under the Del Rio International Bridge by the tens of thousands, the Department of Homeland Security is taking immediate steps to get them out of the country.

The Biden administration announced on Saturday that it would begin deporting Haitians who have gathered in the thousands at the bridge in the past week after illegally entering the United States.

Marsha Espinosa, assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, said:

“We (the administration) have reiterated that our borders are not open, and people should not make the dangerous journey.”

The Department of Homeland Security has three flights planned for Sunday and will run four flights starting Monday, according to an official close to the process. Going forward, there will be four flights a day flying Haitians out of the U.S. back to Haiti or other countries.

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About The Author

Scott A. Davis is a 28-year veteran of law enforcement. He served as a Police Sergeant and as a Detective in Pennsylvania. Scott retired from law enforcement in 2020. Prior to his law enforcement career, Scott was an award-winning journalist and recipient of two Keystone Press Awards.

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