FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., vowed to investigate President Biden's "lawless plans for amnesty" and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' "ongoing abuse of parole authority" hours after the administration unveiled new immigration rules shielding migrant spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation.
"Amnesty for illegal aliens is absolutely unacceptable," Hawley wrote in a letter to Mayorkas on Tuesday morning. "It is a lure that will drive millions more illegal immigrants to flood across our southern border. It is a slap in the face to U.S. taxpayers. And it is totally unfair to immigrants who entered the U.S. legally. But apparently, you and President Biden now plan to do just that."
Hawley called for Mayorkas to "immediately end" the new policy and said the administration "baldly defied" current immigration law, which permits parole for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.
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"And you have likewise failed to abide by the explicit statutory limitations: leaked documents reveal that Jose Ibarra, accused of murdering 22-year-old Laken Riley, was paroled into the country on the basis of 'lack of detention capacity.' That is not a permissible basis for parole," Hawley wrote.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security sources previously told Fox News Digital that Ibarra – a Venezualan migrant – illegally crossed into the U.S. through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released via parole. He is facing 10 counts following the death of Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who he allegedly killed on Feb. 22.
"In your hands, parole is just one thing: a get-across-the-border-free card. And you have been handing out those cards to virtually anyone who asks. In light of your abdication of responsibility to enforce the law, President Biden’s recent promises to secure the border should be seen as what they are—empty and meaningless," Hawley continued.
Hawley warned the administration's new amnesty proposal "is transparently an attempt to curry favor with far-left activist groups, who opposed even President Biden’s toothless rhetoric about border security," and that "the far left always gets what it wants from this administration—amnesty and a functionally open border."
DHS will implement a new policy to allow some migrants to apply for lawful permanent resident status, including the non-citizen spouses and children of lawful U.S. permanent residents or citizens, the administration explained.
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The White House said it expected the policy to offer protection to about half a million American families, which would include roughly 50,000 under the age of 21 who are married to or children of a U.S. citizen.
A White House fact sheet provided to Fox News Digital on the plan laid out the eligibility requirements for the new rules, including that spouses of Americans must have resided in the U.S. for 10 years or more and be legally married to a U.S. citizen while satisfying other immigration requirements. Those who are approved under the program would be able to apply for permanent U.S. residency after a three-year period while also being eligible for work authorization in the U.S. for up to three years.
Last week, Mayorkas faced criticism from Republican lawmakers over a report that hundreds of thousands of foreign asylum seekers had their cases closed without a ruling, ushering in a sort of "mass amnesty."
Since 2022, the administration has closed over 350,000 asylum cases for migrants without recorded criminal histories, according to data from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan organization that monitors immigration cases and backlogs.
Fox News Digital's Michael Lee and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
