New GAO Report Says Biden DHS Paroled Up To 89% Of Southern Border Migrants At Peak

A new Government Accountability Office report found the Department of Homeland Security sharply expanded humanitarian parole at the southern border under the Biden administration, with parole grants reaching 89% of encounters in December 2022.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

The Department of Homeland Security released a large share of migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border through humanitarian parole during the Biden administration, with the rate reaching nearly 90% at its peak, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

The GAO report found that DHS greatly expanded use of humanitarian parole between early 2021 and Jan. 20, 2025, when President Donald Trump began his second term.

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Humanitarian parole allows certain noncitizens to enter or remain in the United States temporarily under specific circumstances. The GAO, an independent agency that produces reports for Congress, said the practice became far more common at the southern border during the Biden administration than it had been in prior years.

Between 2019 and 2020, parole was granted in about 3% to 28% of cases at the southern border, according to the report. That changed beginning in the summer of 2021, when parole grants increased substantially.

The highest point came in December 2022, when 89% of border encounters resulted in parole, the GAO said.

The report found that parole grants began declining after that peak and fell further after Trump returned to office. The shift marked a major change in border processing policy after years in which parole was used to release large numbers of migrants into the country.

The GAO also raised concerns about the ability of federal immigration authorities to track parole information. The report said information about noncitizens’ parole status is not readily accessible, making it difficult for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take action when appropriate.

That lack of easy access creates operational problems for immigration enforcement, according to the report, because ICE may need timely information about whether a person is still under parole, whether the parole has expired or whether enforcement action should be considered.

The findings place renewed attention on how DHS used parole authority during the Biden administration and how that use affected immigration enforcement. The GAO’s review shows that parole became one of the primary tools used to process migrants encountered at the southern border, particularly during the 2021 and 2022 surge.

The report is likely to intensify debate over whether parole was used as a limited humanitarian measure or as a broad release mechanism for migrants arriving at the border. It also highlights the administrative challenges facing federal agencies when large numbers of noncitizens are released under temporary legal authority but their status information is difficult for enforcement officials to access.