Just months before Luis Miguel Calzadilla-Rojas — a Venezuelan migrant and alleged member of the Tren de Aragua gang — was detained after a shooting outside a probation office in Aurora, Colorado, he had gained entry to the United States through a controversial immigration initiative launched by the Biden-Harris administration, the NY Post reports.
Calzadilla-Rojas entered the country by using CBP One, an application designed to offer asylum seekers a lawful way into the United States.
He is one of the 1.3 million migrants who have been permitted to enter the U.S. through legal channels established by the Biden-Harris administration over the past two years.
These programs were initiated without input or approval from Congress.
Sources within Homeland Security have revealed to The Post that minimal vetting takes place for many migrants, particularly if their countries of origin — such as Venezuela, Haiti, and Cuba — do not cooperate with U.S. law enforcement agencies.
“It doesn’t surprise me that gang members get in so easily and frequently,” one source commented to The Post.
Calzadilla-Rojas is not the only person who has made it through the loopholes in the CBP One program.
In June, federal authorities arrested three suspected ISIS members from Tajikistan who had used the CBP One app to gain entry into the U.S., as per data from the Department of Homeland Security provided to the House Judiciary Committee.
Additionally, the program enabled the entry of two other suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang, who were later arrested in connection with an attempted murder in Aurora in late July.
The Biden-Harris administration introduced the CBP One app in January 2023, with President Biden asserting that it would help manage the flow of migrants entering the country illegally.
The app allows migrants to schedule appointments with immigration officials to review their requests for entry into the U.S. Applicants are required to be outside the country — typically across the border in Mexico — when applying.
President Biden argued that by offering asylum seekers a legal route into the country, they could undergo screening and avoid having to rely on cartel-run human smugglers.
However, critics, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed a lawsuit against the policy, claimed the administration was “inviting illegal aliens to cross the border.”
Following the policy’s implementation, there was a dramatic increase in illegal border crossings, with over 2 million migrants entering the U.S. between February 2023 and April 2024, peaking at 117,000 crossings in May alone.
Since January 2023, the app has facilitated the entry of approximately 813,000 migrants through southern border ports of entry.
The overwhelming demand for the CBP One system has led the Mexican government to assist by busing migrants to the U.S. border, allowing them to reach their appointments with CBP more swiftly.
In addition to the app, the Biden administration has permitted 30,000 Cuban, Haitian, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan migrants to fly into the U.S. via commercial flights. To date, 530,000 migrants have arrived in the U.S. on such flights.
Although the flight program was briefly paused due to widespread fraud, it has since resumed.
Altogether, these programs have allowed 1.3 million migrants into the country.
While these entry methods continue to bring in thousands of migrants each month, the Biden-Harris administration has touted its success at the border. According to the administration, illegal crossings have fallen to their lowest levels since Biden took office, following the introduction of new restrictions on asylum seekers.
After three years of record-high illegal crossings, encounters with Border Patrol agents dropped to approximately 83,000 in June, 56,000 in July, and 58,000 in August, according to federal statistics.
“CBP continues to enforce the Securing the Border interim final rule and deliver strong consequences for illegal entry, and encounters between ports of entry remain at their lowest level in years,” Troy Miller, the acting chief of Customs and Border Protection, said in a recent statement.
The controversial CBP One app has faced harsh criticism from Republicans, who argue that it grants legal entry to migrants with no legitimate right to be in the U.S.
Former President Donald Trump has vowed to “terminate the Kamala phone app for smuggling illegals (CBP One App).”
Mark Green, the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, expressed his disapproval at a border hearing on Wednesday, accusing the Biden-Harris administration of orchestrating a “shell-game” and using entry programs as part of “a sleight of hand to skew the numbers.”
Critics maintain that the recent arrests of gang members and terror suspects demonstrate that CBP One has not enhanced border security.
When Calzadilla-Rojas utilized the CBP One app, he entered the U.S. through the Paso Del Norte port of entry in El Paso, Texas, in August 2023, according to sources within Homeland Security.
Although officers processing Calzadilla-Rojas conducted the required background checks, they found no records on him — likely due to the absence of information-sharing agreements between the U.S. and Venezuela, sources added.
He was granted entry into the U.S. on a two-year parole status, with the chance to seek an extended stay at a court hearing scheduled for April 2026, sources said.
Later, Calzadilla-Rojas was one of ten members of the violent Venezuelan street gang apprehended in connection with a January 3 shooting outside the Arapahoe County Probation Office in Aurora, Colorado, an area with a significant migrant population, according to police.
He has since been identified by the Aurora Police Department as a “documented member of TdA.”
Although he initially informed federal authorities that he would reside in Madison, Wisconsin, Calzadilla-Rojas was arrested nearly 1,000 miles away outside of Denver — a major hub for the Venezuelan gang in the U.S.