How Humanitarian Parole Could Reduce Illegal Immigration in the U.S.

Biden administration has allowed over a million people into the United States in the last three years under humanitarian parole, which allows people to sustain their lives and work without visas in the United States for about 2 years. Humanitarian parole has existed since 1952 to help people escape dictatorships and economic collapse. It was established to discourage migrants from illegally crossing the border by suggesting a more structured, legal pathway.

Parole has been extended to Ukrainians, Afghans, and people of the south U.S.-Mexico border who are leaving their countries behind because of extreme poverty or devastating war. The United States could grant parole if there are “urgent humanitarian” needs or a “significant public benefit”, which is stated in the law. For the past three years, more than 176,000 Ukrainians and 77,000 Afghans have come to the United States under the program. The Biden administration began granting parole to 30,000 migrants each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

According to research from the National Foundation for American Policy, it shows that the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program has decreased the rate of illegal entry more than the Trump administration's enforcement-only policies. The research states that “Illegal entry by Cubans and Nicaraguans (as measured by Border Patrol encounters) declined by over 90% after Biden officials introduced the parole programs. Haitian numbers remained low.”.

Parole is considered a short-term solution for the U.S. immigration issue. Therefore, the Biden administration has established refugee processing outside the nation to direct migrants into a traditional legal track. 

Human rights advocates still argue that if the individuals are admitted as refugees, not as parolees, there are higher possibilities of becoming permanent residents.

The ‘100 years of Border Patrol apprehensions data’ suggested lawmakers to establish policies that provide more legal paths to enter the United States rather than tightening enforcement.