Hawkeye Reporter

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has called on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to address shortcomings in the Biden administration’s handling of immigration parole expirations. This follows a July 2025 report from the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), which found that “under [Biden] DHS policies and practices, aliens could remain unlawfully in the United States after parole expiration without enforcement consequences.” The report noted that more than 61,400 parolee visas expired between November 2024 and February 2025.

Grassley stated, “The OIG found that multiple Biden-DHS components – including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – failed to uphold their respective responsibilities under federal law and executive policy for tracking and enforcing parole expirations.”

According to findings detailed in the OIG report, CBP did not track parole expirations despite a congressional mandate to provide data on overstays; USCIS lacked a centralized system for monitoring parole expiration; and ICE was not notified when parolees entered the country nor did it automatically consider them removable after their terms expired.

Grassley urged implementation of three recommendations from the OIG: designating a DHS office to oversee parole expiration reporting, developing a process to identify unauthorized parolees, and ensuring ICE receives timely data about those whose authorization has lapsed.

In prior correspondence dating back to October 2023, Grassley raised concerns with then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about failures related to vetting individuals paroled through the CBP One mobile app. He continued pressing these issues through June 2024 regarding Afghan evacuees following the Afghanistan withdrawal, as well as raising alarms in August 2024 over field offices not being notified about interview and fingerprint waivers for certain entrants. In October 2024, he addressed instances where noncitizens were allowed entry without identity confirmation—an issue highlighted days before an Afghan evacuee was arrested for plotting an Election Day terrorist attack linked to ISIS.

Grassley continues oversight efforts this Congress by seeking answers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning vetting failures among Afghan evacuees. He also introduced legislation titled the Immigration Parole Reform Act aimed at strengthening enforcement around immigration parole programs.