Kristi NoemPresident-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, told lawmakers she would end the controversial CBP One application and the related migrant parole program that has allowed nearly 1.5 million immigrants to enter the US.
“Yes, senator, if confirmed and I have the opportunity to be secretary, on the first day CBP One will be closed,” Noem told Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., at her confirmation hearing before Senate Committee on Homeland Security.
Noema Hawley was the first to ask if the southern border was secure.
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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on her nomination for Homeland Security Secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 17, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
“Senator, no, the southern border is not secure today. But in just three days we will have a new president in this country, President Donald J. Trump. And he will secure our border,” she said.
She was then asked about usage The CBP One appwhich allows immigrants to be paroled in the US. The app was created during the first Trump administration to help schedule cargo inspections. However, it was controversially expanded in 2023 to allow migrants to make an appointment at a port of entry to be allowed entry, initially as an exception to the Title 42 public health order, and then, starting in May, to be paroled into the US as part of the expansion of the “legal roads” of the Biden administration.
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By the end of December, more than 936,500 individuals had scheduled parole appointments through the app, according to Customs and Border Protection.
Linked to that was the parole process Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV)which allows up to 30,000 nationals from these countries to be approved to enter the US per month after a vetting process. By the end of December, about 531,000 citizens were allowed through the program. It was first applied to Venezuelans in October 2022, and was extended to the other three nationalities in January 2023.
While the Biden administration said it was part of an effort to encourage legal, not illegal, immigration and was part of a slowdown in citizens entering illegally from those groups, opponents decried it as a “concierge service” for an otherwise illegal mass migration.
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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is sworn in during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on her nomination for Homeland Security Secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 17, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
Noem said she would terminate CBP One on her first day in office, although the agency would retain some information.
“There is data and information that we will preserve to make sure that we know who is coming to this country and who is already here that we need to find,” she explained.
She then pointed to CHNV, “where our federal government has actually paid to bring people into this country directly from other countries without any background checks or knowing who they are.”
“So there are several of those programs that need to be eliminated, and we need to make sure that we’re following legal immigration laws,” she said.
Hawley followed up, asking if he would end “abuse” in the parole system.
“We’re going to go back to evaluating these parole cases on a case-by-case basis and making sure that we have more resources, if you want to partner with us, to make sure that our immigration legal system is fully utilized, that we have more judges, more immigration courts , so we can legally prosecute people and make sure they go through that process, and not, like Joe Biden did, use this as an excuse to let people come into our country without consequence,” she said.
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Noem, if confirmed, will oversee DHS at a time when the agency is expected to launch a historic mass deportation operation against illegal immigrants inside the US, while also trying to expand border security on the southern and northern borders.
She will work with “Border Emperor” Tom Homanwho was chosen by Trump in November to head the operation and border security efforts.
