The Biden administration said Friday that it has paused a humanitarian program that admits up to 360,000 people a year from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba into the United States to work or seek asylum so officials can investigate possible fraud.

The Department of Homeland Security said it had put the program on hold for the 30,000 new applicants who are allowed in each month.

“DHS takes any abuse of its processes very seriously,” spokeswoman Erin Heeter said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, DHS has temporarily paused the issuance of advanced travel authorizations for new beneficiaries while it undertakes a review of supporter applications. DHS will restart application processing as quickly as possible, with appropriate safeguards.”

Officials declined to answer detailed questions about the investigation, which was first reported by Fox News.

The program, known as “parole,” is a critical part of the administration’s strategy to reduce illegal crossings at the southern border, by encouraging migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba to find a sponsor in the United States and undergo background checks before booking flights to U.S. airports, allowing them to bypass the border.

Since the program was created more than a year ago, illegal entries from all four countries have declined, with steep drops especially in numbers from Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba. The program began in 2023 for the three countries and in 2022 for Venezuela.

The migrants’ U.S. sponsors, who file applications to bring them to the United States, must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents or have a temporary status, such as other people who have been paroled into the country.

Sponsors also must clear background checks and prove that they have enough money to receive and support the people they are sponsoring, according to DHS.

Once they arrive, migrants are generally eligible to apply for work permits and, if they are fleeing persecution at home, potentially to stay permanently.

DHS officials emphasized that the hundreds of thousands of migrants already admitted into the United States through the program have been “thoroughly screened and vetted prior to their arrival.”

Officials said that the department has not identified security concerns with people who have been admitted and that those who are currently in the country under the program, or soon to arrive with travel authorization, will not be affected by the pause.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will investigate the allegations and refer possible criminal cases to the Justice Department, officials said.

Republicans have criticized the program for allowing in thousands of people who otherwise lacked legal authorization to enter the country.

“Shut it down permanently,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote Friday on X. “This program should have never existed in the first place.”The Biden administration said Friday the government has paused a humanitarian program that admits up to 360,000 people a year from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba into the United States to work or seek asylum, after an internal report indicated possible fraud.

The Department of Homeland Security said it had put the program on hold for the 30,000 new applicants who are allowed in each month, while it institutes additional security screenings for the U.S.-based residents who sponsor them.

“DHS takes any abuse of its processes very seriously,” spokeswoman Erin Heeter said in a statement.

“Out of an abundance of caution, DHS has temporarily paused the issuance of advanced travel authorizations for new beneficiaries while it undertakes a review of supporter applications. DHS will restart application processing as quickly as possible, with appropriate safeguards,” she said.

The program, known as “parole,” is a critical part of the administration’s strategy to reduce illegal crossings at the southern border, by encouraging migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba to find a sponsor in the United States to apply to bring them into the country. Migrants typically are granted permission to stay and work for up to two years.

DHS has not identified security concerns with the almost 500,000 people from the four countries who already have been admitted through the program, after clearing background checks, and they will not be affected by the pause, officials said.

The department stopped processing new applications around mid-July after an internal report flagged concerns about U.S.-based sponsors, who include citizens and permanent residents as well as immigrants in the country temporarily, according to two DHS officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Officials said the unpublished report revealed possible problems, such as multiple applications from a single sponsor, that led authorities to temporarily stop processing applications and to institute additional screening protocols. Applications for parole are still being accepted online, but they are not being approved for now.

DHS did not say how long the program will remain paused, a decision first reported by Fox News.

“We don’t expect it to last long,” one of the officials said.

The Biden administration started the parole programs in 2022 for Venezuela, and last year for the three other countries to provide a legal pathway for migrants to enter the United States instead of making dangerous treks to the southern border. The program admits migrants at U.S. airports, and officials credit it with leading to a sharp decline in illegal border crossings.

Federal officials called the program “an immediate success” in a court filing last month.

The program requires a U.S. sponsor to apply to bring someone into the country. Sponsors and migrants must clear background checks, and sponsors must agree to financially support people admitted on humanitarian parole.

Republican lawmakers and others have raised concerns about vetting and the program’s high approval rate - which hovered around 98 percent in its first year, court records show.

On Friday they called for the program to end after the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, a group that favors sharp reductions in legal and illegal immigration, alleged that fraud was widespread.

“Shut it down permanently,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote on X. “This program should have never existed in the first place.”

Rep. Mark Green, (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Homeland Security committee, said in a statement that the DHS pause “vindicates every warning we have ever issued” about the parole program.

FAIR said in a statement that it had obtained a copy of the government report on the program that showed sponsors filed applications using fake Social Security Numbers, including those belonging to dead people, false phone numbers and multiple applications from the same address.

Some parole applications were filed from a mobile park home, a warehouse, and a storage unit, they said.

Federal officials said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigates allegations of fraud and refers possible criminal cases to the Justice Department. Some people could face deportation in the civil immigration courts.

Republican officials from 21 states filed a lawsuit in January 2023 to end the program, citing the costs to states to provide services for the newcomers. In March, a federal judge in Texas rejected their lawsuit, noting that the program had reduced illegal crossings.

The case is under appeal.