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

Sen. Rick Scott, R, Fla. is joining other Republican lawmakers and social media users and blaming President Joe Biden for 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, linking to a Fox News article.

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

"The fact is this program is authorized by this president and advances his extreme immigration policies by flying illegals into Florida which has been widely reported," said McKinley Lewis, Scott’s communications director. 

Lewis also mentioned the Verifying that all Aliens have Legitimate Identification Documents (VALID) Act, which Scott co-sponsored. The act would prohibit migrants from  using the CBP One phone app as a form of identification at airports. 

The humanitarian parole program’s beneficiaries use the CBP One app as part of the parole application process. However, to qualify for the program, people must have unexpired passports issued by their countries’ governments that are valid for international travel, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said. 

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. 

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 to 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 2024, 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 parole 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.

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 Scott linked to 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 the U.S. 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. 

Featured Fact-check

Donald Trump

stated on January 20, 2016 in a town hall in Norwalk, Iowa

"When they say Mexico can't pay for the wall, I say of course they can. We have a trade deficit with Mexico that's unbelievably big. ... It's billions and billions of dollars -- far more than what we're talking about for the wall."

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 under 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 Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, all countries that have large immigrant populations in Florida.

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

A Biden humanitarian parole program lets 30,000 eligible immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela a month 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 fund 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.

UPDATE, May 10, 2024: This fact-check has been updated to include additional information provided by Sen. Rick Scott's office.