Former acting DHS deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli unloaded on the Biden administration during an appearance on The Will Cain Show, saying immigration permits were handed out “like candy” and accusing officials of treating our laws as optional. He argued the policy was done on an en masse basis and driven more by political optics than by any sensible plan to secure the border and protect American citizens.
Cuccinelli warned that these decisions weren’t small bureaucratic mistakes but deliberate policy choices that invited exploitation and chaos, leaving local communities to pick up the tab. He told Will Cain that when the people who run our homeland security apparatus prioritize appearances over enforcement, the results are predictable and dangerous for years to come.
The scale behind that rhetoric is not imaginary: multiple parole and humanitarian programs put hundreds of thousands of people into the country with temporary protections and eligibility for work authorization during the Biden years. Independent analysis shows huge inflows from programs such as Uniting for Ukraine, Operation Allies Welcome, and the CHNV parole process that together added substantial numbers of protected entrants who could apply for work permits.
Meanwhile, the government itself has adjusted work-authorization rules to handle the crush of applications, and USCIS even expanded automatic EAD extension policies to prevent mass lapses amid surging demand. That should alarm anyone who cares about the integrity of our immigration system: if work permits are becoming routine to manage political consequences, then permits are effectively being rationed by politics rather than merit or lawful process.
The CHNV parole program — singled out by critics — admitted roughly half a million people before it was later characterized as deeply problematic and rolled back, a tacit admission that the policy created more harm than order. Conservatives were right to call this out: handing out travel and work authority on such a scale without rigorous enforcement or adequate vetting upends job markets, strains public services, and makes communities less safe.
If Americans want a government that puts them first, they must demand accountability, audits of these parole and authorization programs, and a return to real border control that enforces the letter and spirit of the law. Ken Cuccinelli’s blunt charge on The Will Cain Show should be a wake-up call: we either restore rule of law and common sense at the border, or taxpayers and hardworking communities will continue paying the price for politics masquerading as policy.
