Hundreds of thousands of immigrants have flown into Texas and Florida as part of expanded immigration parole procedures put in place by President Joe Biden, according to government data.
At least 386,000 immigrants have been flown and paroled into the United State from October 2022 through February, according to a Center for Immigration Studies analysis of government data. The vast majority of those immigrants touched down in either Florida or Texas, at least initially, after boarding an international flight to the United States.
Florida was by far the top destination. Of those paroled immigrants, at least 326,000 were on planes that initially entered the U.S. through the international airport in Miami. The next most popular destination is Houston with nearly 22,000. Other states to receive immigrants include California and New York.
“Begun in October 2022 for Venezuelans and expanded in January 2023 to Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Colombians, the program approves flight travel authorizations for aspiring illegal border-crossers still in other countries to instead arrange commercial airline passage for themselves over the southern border and then receive temporary but easily renewable ‘humanitarian parole’ from CBP officers at the airport,” the CIS report says.
“Also during 2023, the direct-flights parole program declared that Guatemalans, El Salvadorans, Hondurans, and Ecuadorians also would be eligible, for a total of nine nationalities. The Central Americans and Ecuadorians show up in comparatively small numbers for now, having been added in the latter months of 2023, but could increase over time,” it adds.
It’s unclear where the immigrants’ final destination is once they arrive in the United States. The figures only reflect an initial landing in the U.S. once the immigrants secure plane tickets from their home countries.
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The White House has pushed to expand immigration parole, arguing that increasing legal pathways to immigration will relieve pressure from illegal immigration on the southern border.
Illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border continues to be a pressing issue after hitting record levels during Biden’s presidency. A caravan of about 2,000 immigrants began traveling to the U.S. from Tapachula at the southern tip of Mexico near the Guatemala border earlier this month.
In video taken of the group, one man can be heard urging the caravan on and shouting “a la frontera,” which means, “To the border.”