Washington, D.C. — A new Center for American Progress column that examines the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole processes finds that the use of immigration parole authority by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) significantly decreased the proportion of encounters with noncitizens in between official ports of entry. Thus, restricting lawful pathways to the United States would be counterproductive to managing southern border flows.
In analyzing DHS data from before and after the CHNV parole processes were implemented in January 2023, CAP finds that:
- From January 2023 to May 2024, the average percentage of monthly encounters with Cuban nationals in between official ports of entry was 7.1 percent. This is 92.2 percent lower than the commensurate average in the 14 months prior to January 2023.
- For Haitians, it was 1.3 percent, which is 45.2 percent lower.
- For Nicaraguans, it was 23.8 percent, which is 75.6 percent lower.
- For Venezuelans, it was 49.6 percent, which is 41.2 percent lower.
- Altogether, the average percentage of CHNV monthly encounters in between ports of entry was 28 percent, which is 65.7 percent lower than the commensurate average in the 14 months prior to January 2023.
To compare, the average percentage of monthly encounters with non-CHNV nationals in between official ports of entry vs. at ports of entry along the southern border was 70.7 percent during this same period, which is just 2.9 percent lower than the commensurate average in the 14 months prior to January 2023—a statistically significant difference.
“Analysis of the CHNV parole processes show that practices and policies that facilitate legal pathways can reduce irregular migration and encourage prospective migrants to seek entry into the United States through such processes and at official ports of entry,” said Tom K. Wong, senior fellow for Immigration Policy at CAP and associate professor of political science and founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California, San Diego. “The opportunity to be considered for an orderly, legal pathway into the United States through a policy such as the CHNV parole processes acts as a strong incentive for people to forgo attempting to enter the country without authorization between ports of entry and to instead seek to participate in such a process.”
Read the column: “CAP Analysis Shows That Expanded Legal Pathways To Enter the U.S. Reduce Irregular Migration” by Tom K. Wong
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, please contact Jasmine Razeghi at [email protected].