Fix parole program to protect migrants

The Biden administration has launched a humanitarian parole program to temporarily admit certain Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans and discourage migrants from dangerous treks to the U.S. border.

Hopefully, this will curtail business for smugglers, or “coyotes,” making untold fortunes off of the suffering and desperation of tens of thousands of Latin Americans. But murky rules around the requirement that immigrants in the program have a financial sponsor has left people vulnerable to online scammers.

While the program should continue, it also needs to clean up sponsorship requirements to forbid potential sponsors from demanding payment from migrants.

Every parole applicant must have a financial sponsor who is willing to attest that he or she can support the applicant and any dependents for two years. This is a reasonable rule to ensure that humanitarian parolees don’t become public charges.

Financial sponsors must be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. Reporting from The Associated Press and NBC News found an informal industry on social media, where some people offer to sponsor migrants if they pay from $2,000 to $10,000.

Federal law is silent on whether sponsors can charge applicants, so the practice might be legal. The U.S. government must correct the rules to ban payments to sponsors.

The White House should flood social media with warnings about potential fraud and human trafficking schemes. Parole programs promise a safe path to the U.S., but the internet can also be a dangerous place.