WASHINGTON D.C. –– House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement Chairman Clay Higgins (R-LA) and Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Chairman Dan Bishop (R-NC) have announced a hearing Thursday, March 21, at 2:00 PM EST, to examine the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) unlawful use of the CBP One app to mass-parole hundreds of thousands of inadmissible aliens into the United States.

While the app was created for commercial purposes, the Biden administration expanded it in January 2023 to allow otherwise inadmissible aliens to schedule appointments directly at a port of entry with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and be released into the interior. In February 2024, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, due to his refusal to comply with the laws passed by Congress and his breach of the public trust. This includes his defiance of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which allows parole to be granted only on a case-by-case and temporary basis, for significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian need. The use of this app to release inadmissible aliens into the interior violates the law’s clear direction.

In January 2024, DHS processed approximately 45,000 inadmissible aliens into the country using the CBP One app. Between January 2023 and the end of January 2024, over 450,000 inadmissible aliens “successfully scheduled appointments.”

“Secretary Mayorkas has ignored a co-equal branch of government by unlawfully abusing the CBP One app to grant mass parole to hundreds of thousands of otherwise-inadmissible aliens at our Southwest border under the smokescreen of lawful entry––often with limited or no vetting,” Chairmen Higgins and Bishop said. “We know the vast majority of the individuals who schedule an appointment with the app are released into the interior, showing this now-impeached DHS secretary has no intention of ending the historic crisis at our borders or the perverse incentives that helped create it. Next week is an important opportunity to demand accountability from this administration and get more answers on an open-borders scheme that DHS has tried their best to hide from the American people.”

DETAILS:

What: A joint Subcommittee hearing entitled “Examining CBP One: Functions, Features, Expansion, and Risks.”

When: Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 2:00 PM ET

Where: 310 Cannon House Office Building

WITNESSES:

Adam Hunter
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Immigration Policy, Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Diane J. Sabatino
Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Tammy Meckley
Associate Director, Immigration Records and Identity Services Directorate, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Marta Youth
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S. Department of State

Witness testimony will be added here. The hearing will be livestreamed on YouTube and the Committee’s website. The hearing will be open to the public and press. Press must be congressionally credentialed and must RSVP by Wednesday, March 20 at 6:00 PM ET.

BACKGROUND:

Just last month, CBS News reported that migrants have used the CBP One app 64 million times to request entry into the United States. Chairman Green and the House Committee on Homeland Security have warned of the dangers of the expanded use of the CBP One app for a year:

• In April 2023, the Committee introduced the Border Reinforcement Act to restrict the use of the CBP One app to its original intent—allowing for the efficient movement of commercial goods into the United States. This provision was included in the House-passed Secure the Border Act, or H.R.2.
• In October 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finally responded to multiple requests by the House Committee on Homeland Security for information and documents on the app. The documents covered the period between Jan. 12, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2023, and showed that 95.8 percent of all inadmissible aliens who scheduled appointments through the app were ultimately issued a “Notice to Appear” (NTA) and released into the United States on parole. 
• On June 1, the Committee requested initial documents on the app and received only an interim acknowledgment of receipt from the department. Following reporting by the Washington Examiner, which confirmed that Mexican cartels are abusing the CBP One app as a tool for their vast human smuggling operations, the Committee renewed their previous unsatisfied requests and demanded additional information on September 14. Following further stonewalling by the department, Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) issued a subpoena threat on October 16. Just minutes before the October 19 deadline provided by the Committee to the department, DHS sent an initial production of documents. 

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