Biden isn’t flying migrants to Florida. People pay for their own flights, legally enter US

Maria Ramirez Uribe
·6 min read
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Sen. Rick Scott

Statement: “Joe Biden flew hundreds of thousands of illegals into Florida last year.”

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is joining other Republican lawmakers and social media users in accusing President Joe Biden of using taxpayer dollars to fly immigrants into the U.S.

"Joe Biden flew hundreds of thousands of illegals into Florida last year," Scott wrote May 4 on X, formerly Twitter, linking to a Fox News article.

Scott is criticizing a Biden humanitarian parole program for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Scott’s post gives the impression that Biden is paying for the humanitarian parole beneficiaries’ flights. But, as we’ve previously fact-checked, the program’s beneficiaries must pay for their own travel to the United States, and they’re not in the U.S. illegally.

Scott’s communications director, McKinley Lewis, responded to PolitiFact’s request for more information with a question about CBP One, a U.S. government app that humanitarian parole beneficiaries can use to see information about their cases.

"Is there an argument that this travel, which allows illegal aliens to use the DHS CBP One App in lieu of government-issued ID, is not authorized by the Biden administration?" Lewis asked PolitiFact.

Humanitarian parole beneficiaries do not use the app "in lieu" of a government-issued ID. To qualify for the program, people must have an unexpired passport issued by their country’s government that is valid for international travel, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said.

Biden program allows entry to eligible immigrants from four countries

In January 2023, the U.S. started accepting 30,000 people monthly from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela under a humanitarian parole program. The program, an expansion of an October 2022 initiative for Venezuelans, lets people legally enter, live and work in the U.S. for two years. To qualify, migrants need a U.S. sponsor and must meet other requirements.

Although people paroled in are authorized to be in the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security can terminate their parole if they violate U.S. laws. People who overstay a parole period also can be deported.

As of March, the latest month with available data, 404,000 people have entered the U.S. through the program, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.

People allowed into the U.S. through this program do not receive free flights to the country; rather, they buy their own plane tickets, Nicole Hallett, a University of Chicago Law School professor, told PolitiFact in March.

People entering via the parole program are in the country legally

In April, the Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee subpoenaed the Department of Homeland Security, requesting information and data on the humanitarian parole program. The Fox News article to which Scott linked in his X post includes eight pages of the department’s response to the committee.

The committee asked DHS for the monthly number of parole program applicants "from each country for which travel authorization was issued who were found to be inadmissible at a port of entry but released into the United States."

DHS responded that "all individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible."

But this doesn’t mean the people who entered under the humanitarian parole program are in the country illegally.

"People allowed into the U.S. through parole are legally entering," said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. Parole gives people who would otherwise not be allowed into the U.S. temporary permission to enter.

Even though parole is an official permission to enter and temporarily stay in the U.S., it’s not considered a formal admission into the country under immigration law, the Congressional Research Service wrote in a 2020 report.

"An admission occurs when an immigration officer allows a noncitizen to enter the United States pursuant to a visa or another entry document, without the limitation of parole," the American Immigration Council, an immigrant rights advocacy group, said in a 2022 report.

People in the U.S. under parole have a temporary lawful presence in the country, but they do not have a lawful status or a pathway to U.S. citizenship. That means once they enter the country, people in parole programs must apply for a legal status, such as asylum.

Destinations for immigrants arriving through the parole program

In its subpoena response, the Department of Homeland Security said 200,000 people arrived at U.S. airports from January 2023 to August 2023 and were paroled into the country.

More than 161,000 entered the U.S. through Florida airports, particularly Miami International Airport, which is a hub for flights from Latin America.

But that doesn’t mean all 161,000 people settled in Florida. DHS tracks the first airport people reached in the U.S. This is where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers screen people for admission. After that, people can settle elsewhere within the U.S.

It’s unclear how many parole beneficiaries settled in Florida. However, the parole program benefits people from four countries that have large immigrant populations in Florida.

PolitiFact's ruling

Scott said, "Joe Biden flew hundreds of thousands of illegals into Florida last year."

A Biden humanitarian parole program lets 30,000 eligible immigrants a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela enter the U.S. They can live and work in the U.S. legally for two years. The Biden administration does not cover travel costs; beneficiaries must book and pay for their own travel.

More than 161,000 program beneficiaries entered the U.S. at a Florida airport. However, it’s unclear how many of those people settled in Florida.

We rate Scott’s claim False.

Our sources

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: No, Biden isn’t flying migrants to Florida at taxpayers' expense