Emergency Memo - Justification

 
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Office of Information Technology
Washington, DC 20529

Memorandum
TO:

Richard Revesz
Administrator,
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Office of Management and Budget

THROUGH: Eric Hysen
DHS Chief Information Officer
FROM:

Samantha Deshommes
USCIS Office of Policy and Strategy,
Chief Regulatory Officer

SUBJECT:

Request for Emergency OMB Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) Clearance –
USCIS Form I-134A, Online Request to be a Supporter and Declaration of
Financial Support; and USCIS Form I-131, Application for Travel Document

SAMANTHA L
DESHOMMES

Digitally signed by
SAMANTHA L DESHOMMES
Date: 2023.06.27 15:38:11
-04'00'

Purpose: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is requesting emergency approval
of a revision of Form I-134A, Online Request to be a Supporter and Declaration of Financial
Support, and a revision of Form I-131, Application for Travel Document. USCIS is seeking
approval for both collections of information under 5 CFR 1320.13.
Background: Section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C.
1182(d)(5), provides the Secretary of Homeland Security with the discretionary authority to
parole noncitizens into the United States temporarily, under such reasonable conditions that the
Secretary may prescribe, only on a case-by-case basis for “urgent humanitarian reasons or
significant public benefit.” See INA sec. 212(d)(5)(A), 8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)(A); see also 6 U.S.C.
202(4) (charging the Secretary with the responsibility for “[e]stablishing and administering
rule…governing…parole”).
DHS will implement changes to the current Cuban Family Reunification Parole (CFRP) and
Haitian Family Reunification Parole (HFRP) programs and establish new Family Reunification
Parole (FRP) processes for certain Colombian, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, and Honduran

beneficiaries of approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. The updated CFRP and HFRP
processes and the new FRP processes would provide lawful pathways as an alternative to
irregular migration to help relieve pressure at the Southwest Border (SWB) and reunite families,
consistent with the U.S. national interest and its foreign policy priorities. DHS has decided to
implement an FRP process consistent with Executive Order (EO) 14010 Section 3(b)(ii)1 and the
Collaborative Migration Management Strategy issued by the National Security Council (NSC),2
and the recommendation has been coordinated between USCIS and U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP).
DHS uses Form I-134A to determine whether a U.S.-based individual has sufficient financial
resources and access to those funds to support the beneficiary named on the form for the duration
of the beneficiary’s temporary stay in the United States, as well as to obtain information
concerning whether the beneficiary merits a favorable exercise of discretion under the statutory
parole standard. Form I-134A is filed by a U.S.-based individual (the potential supporter) to
request to be considered as a supporter and to agree to provide financial support to the
beneficiary named on the form during the beneficiary’s temporary period of stay in the United
States. In addition to expanding the use of this form to other parole processes, USCIS is adding
(1) associated changes to the instructions and FRP process-specific fields to identify eligible
beneficiaries (2) a familial relationship evidence requirement, and (3) a free text box for the
supporter to provide an explanation for why the potential beneficiary should be considered for
humanitarian or significant public benefit parole.
USCIS has used the Form I-131 for CFRP and HFRP since their announcement but is now
changing the process to use the Form I-134A. As a result, we are revising Form I-131 to remove
the instructions, time burden, and respondents associated with CFRP and HFRP because
applicants under those processes will no longer submit a Form I-131 for an initial period of
parole.
Discussion: DHS requests emergency approval because the delay associated with the normal
information collection request clearance process would harm the public interest. The FRP
processes represent one part of the United States’ ongoing efforts to engage hemispheric partners
to increase their efforts to collaboratively manage irregular migration. The expansion of lawful
pathways for noncitizens to enter the United States is necessary to ensure partners’ continued
collaboration on migration issues, including the ability of the United States to meet other
immigration-management priorities such as the timely establishment of Safe Mobility Offices
(SMOs) in key locations.

1

Executive Order 14010, Creating a Comprehensive Regional Framework to Address the Causes of Migration, To
Manage Migration Throughout North and Central America, and To Provide Safe and Orderly Processing of Asylum
Seekers at the United States Border, Sec. 3(b)(ii) (Feb. 2, 2021), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-0205/pdf/2021-02561.pdf, directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to consider the promotion of “family unity by
exercising the Secretary’s discretionary parole authority to permit certain nationals of the Northern Triangle who are
the beneficiaries of approved family-sponsored immigrant visa petitions to join their family members in the United
States, on a case-by-case basis.”
2
National Security Council, Collaborative Migration Management Strategy (July 2021)
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Collaborative-Migration-Management-Strategy.pdf.

2 

Ongoing negotiations with partner countries involve the implementation of a range of new
measures, including working to establish SMOs in key locations throughout the Western
Hemisphere to manage and reduce irregular migration and improve qualified individuals’ access
to accelerated refugee processing, family reunification, and labor pathways in the United States.
As a key part of these negotiations, the United States and its partners are providing meaningful
alternatives to irregular migration, including through lawful pathways to the United States,
Canada, and Spain, as well as integration in host countries closer to home. The success of SMOs
and other new measures to reduce irregular migration to the SWB is therefore connected to the
United States expanding access to lawful pathways, including family reunification parole
processes that will benefit nationals in countries identified to host SMOs. The U.S. Government
also continues to engage with and ask additional governments to consider connecting their lawful
pathways to SMO efforts and is building goodwill and momentum to seek SMOs in still more
countries in the region.
In addition, in the past several years, out-migration from the countries of Northern Central
America (NCA, including El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) has accounted for a
significant proportion of individuals seeking to irregularly migrate to the United States. In Fiscal
Years 2021 and 2022, migrants from the NCA constituted 40% and 23%, respectively, of all
individuals encountered at the SWB.3 Economic insecurity; food insecurity; climate change;
gang violence; corruption; sexual, gender-based, and domestic violence, and flight from
threatened persecution and/or torture based on race, nationality, gender, particular social group,
or political opinion, coupled with the desire to reunite with family members already in the United
States, are driving migrants from the NCA countries to the United States.
Under the proposed FRP processes, USCIS would no longer consider parole requests for
individuals outside the United States. Instead, the Department of State would send an invitation
letter to the petitioner of the approved Form I-130. The petitioner would initiate a USCIS Form
I-134A online to confirm that the petitioner has sufficient financial resources to support each
intended parolee for the duration of their stay.
Delaying the information collection approval would be contrary to the public interest because it
would undermine the above-referenced time-sensitive negotiations and efforts to manage
migration collaboratively with foreign partners.
USCIS seeks emergency processing of the Form I-134A and Form I-131 information collection
packages in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.13. USCIS certifies that the requirements of 5 CFR
1320.13(a) are met and that:
•
•
•

The collection of information is needed immediately and is essential to the mission of the
agency.
The use of normal clearance procedures is reasonably likely to prevent or disrupt the
collection of information.
Public harm is reasonably likely to result if normal clearance procedures are followed.

3

CBP, Nationwide Encounters (last viewed June 12, 2023) https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/nationwideencounters.

3 

USCIS greatly appreciates the timely consideration of this request.
Recommendation: Please sign decision memo requesting emergency approval of this collection
of information under 5 CFR 1320.13.

4