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The Biden administration has paused a controversial Department of Homeland Security program that was facilitating the entry of hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the United States each year. 

Approximately 400,000 migrants entered the U.S. in 2023 through the CHNV program.

The program is being shut down due to widespread fraud in all levels of its operations. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed on Friday that it has temporarily suspended the initiative, which allowed up to 30,000 nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) to enter the country each month.

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The CHNV Program

Since its inception, the CHNV program has served as a significant entry point for migrants from the four specified nations. The program was designed to create a pathway to enter the US legally. And it bypassed traditional requirements.

Launched in October 2022, it was supposed to be designed for Venezuelans who met certain criteria it failed to screen applicants. 

No one who had previously attempted illegal entry into the U.S. or had a criminal background in their country of origin was supposed to be in the program.

Each migrant was supposed to have a U.S.-based sponsor and pass biographical vetting. 

While the program requires migrants to cover their travel expenses, it offers a pathway to enter the U.S. legally.

Department of Homeland Security finds Fraud

The abrupt freeze of the program follows an internal DHS report that disclosed rampant fraud among the sponsors responsible for financing the migrants' entry.

 A source familiar with the report shared with Fox News that the DHS is now investigating the authenticity of supporter applications, which are submitted by individuals who "agree to provide financial support to a beneficiary and undergo background checks."

The report revealed that just 3,200 individual sponsors signed up to support around 101,000 migrants, which raised alarms within DHS about potential system abuse.

The investigation uncovered that some sponsor forms were filled using the names of deceased individuals, while other applications showed signs of repetitive data entries.

 According to documents obtained by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a conservative immigration nonprofit, the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) subagency found that "many applications listed the same physical address," "some 100 addresses were listed on over 19,000 forms," and "many applications were submitted by the same IP address."

The internal report further detailed alarming instances of fraud. Storage units were listed as the home addresses for some sponsor applications, while certain phone numbers appeared on thousands of applications. Additionally, almost 3,000 sponsor applications were filled out using fake zip codes, according to FAIR.

DHS's Response

In response to these alarming findings, a DHS spokesperson stated, "The agency now has review mechanisms in place to detect and prevent fraud and abuse in our immigration processes." 

The spokesperson emphasized that DHS takes any abuse of its processes very seriously. "Where fraud is identified, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will investigate and litigate applicable cases in immigration court and make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice," they added.

"DHS will restart application processing as quickly as possible, with appropriate safeguards," the spokesperson assured.

DHS still maintains that CHNV beneficiaries are "thoroughly screened" before their arrival. "The multi-layered screening and vetting for advanced travel authorizations is separate from the screening of U.S.-based supporters," the spokesperson said. "DHS has not identified issues of concern relating to the screening and vetting of beneficiaries."

Political Reactions: A Call for Termination

The discovery of fraud within the CHNV program has sparked intense political reactions. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson strongly criticized the program, stating, "Shut it down permanently. This program should have never existed in the first place." 

He argued that it was just another avenue through which the Biden-Harris Administration welcomed unchecked numbers of migrants into the country.

Similarly, House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., expressed his disapproval to DailyMail.com, stating, "This admission by the Biden-Harris administration vindicates every warning we have ever issued about the unlawful CHNV mass-parole program." 

The program's future remains uncertain, with political and public scrutiny likely to continue.