NASHVILLE, TENN. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) joined Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) in introducing a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to strike down President Biden’s Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule. This rule, which purports to take a hard line on illegal immigration, in reality only funnels migrants into parole programs that allow individuals with weak or non-existent asylum claims to enter the U.S. By issuing this rule, President Biden is sending the wrong message to both illegal immigrants and the cartels who exploit them.

“Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, every town has turned into a border town,”said Senator Blackburn. “President Biden’s Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule is just another example of this administration’s failure to address the worsening crisis at our southern border. We cannot allow more migrants with non-existent asylum claims to enter our country.”

“The Biden administration’s rule is an unserious attempt at resolving the border crisis and is full of loopholes that the cartels will easily exploit to continue moving unlawful migrants into the United States and overwhelm our Border Patrol,” said Senator Cornyn. “Rather than stop unlawful migration, President Biden is using this rule to funnel the migrants into unlawful parole programs, and this resolution would put an end to this shell game to hide an unprecedented level of illegal immigration.”

Joining Senators Blackburn and Cornyn were Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.).

BACKGROUND:

• The Biden administration’s Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule went into effect on May 11, 2023, the same day the Title 42 public health order expired. This rule funnels migrants into one of three “lawful” pathways, including:

• Joining the administration’s program that grants parole to up to 30,000 Venezuelans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Cubans per month, as well as other parole programs the administration has recently set up or expanded;

• Using the administration’s “CBP One” mobile app through which migrants can make appointments to enter at land ports of entry, where they may be paroled into the interior and given work authorizations; or 

• Seeking asylum at any place or time after having been denied asylum in a third country. 

• The first two of these three pathways constitute an abuse of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary’s parole authority, which by statue may only be used on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons.

• Illegal migrants and criminal cartels that take advantage of them will quickly learn to exploit this rule’s numerous loopholes and overwhelm Border Patrol resources.

• It’s clear, then, that this rule does nothing to resolve the crisis at the southern border or to deter migrants from unlawfully entering the United States.