Biden’s Secretive CBP One Scheme

Mark Krikorian; Todd Bensman

By Mark Krikorian and Todd Bensman on October 26, 2023

Listen to "Biden’s Secretive CBP One Scheme" on Spreaker.

Summary

On this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy we are joined by Todd Bensman, the Center for Immigration Studies senior national security fellow, to discuss crucial details about the Biden administration’s CBP One scheme revealed as the result of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation by the Center. The data was analyzed in two reports released this week (linked below).

The strategy of the CBP One scheme is to let inadmissible aliens who would otherwise cross illegally make an appointment to cross at an official port of entry instead, to make border crisis less visible and politically damaging for the Biden administration. The scheme, which includes a work permit, has been going on since May 2021, paroling into the U.S. nearly a quarter million inadmissible aliens from nearly 100 countries, including thousands from countries of terrorism concern.

Ushering in these “special interest aliens”, Bensman explains, is different from catching such people who cross illegally. “The ones that are crossing illegally, we sort of don’t have a choice in that. We just have to contend with them when they enter of their own volition. But with all of these nationalities that we are approving for CBP One appointments and parole, it is done by affirmative choice. We don’t have to choose them. We could deny their applications for appointments and parole.”

In essence, “the Biden administration is knowingly overwhelming our ability to do the kind of close vetting and interviewing and what have you that is warranted for people from these potentially dangerous countries,” says Mark Krikorian, podcast host and executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

In his closing commentary Krikorian draws attention to the dismal situation at the Southwest border as revealed by the end-of-fiscal-year DHS data.