MIAMI (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that it will revoke legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, preparing them for deportation in about a month.
The order applies to approximately 532,000 people from the four countries who have entered the United States since October 2022. They arrived with financial sponsors and were granted two-year permits to live and work in the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that they will lose their legal status on April 24, which is 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register.
The new policy affects people who are already in the United States and came through the humanitarian parole program.
It follows the Trump administration’s earlier decision to end what it called the “broad abuse” of humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool used by presidents to allow people from countries experiencing war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the United States.
During his campaign, President Donald Trump promised to deport millions of people living in the United States illegally, and as president, he has also ended legal pathways for immigrants to enter and stay in the country.
DHS stated that parolees who do not have a legal basis to remain in the United States “must depart” before their parole termination date.
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status,” according to the DHS.
Prior to the new order, program beneficiaries could remain in the United States until their parole expired, but the administration had stopped processing their applications for asylum, visas, and other requests that would have allowed them to stay longer.
The administration’s decision has already been challenged in federal court.
A group of American citizens and immigrants sued the Trump administration for ending humanitarian parole, and they want the programs for the four nationalities reinstated.
Lawyers and activists criticized the government’s decision.
Friday’s action is “going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country,” said Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit at the end of February. She described it as “reckless, cruel, and counterproductive.”
The Biden administration allowed up to 30,000 people from the four countries to enter the United States each month for two years, with the ability to work. It persuaded Mexico to return the same number from those countries because the United States could only deport a small number, if any, back home.
Cuba typically accepted one deportation flight per month, whereas Venezuela and Nicaragua refused to accept any. All three are US adversaries.
In 2021, a surge of Caribbean migrants in the small border town of Del Rio, Texas, led to an increase in deportation flights to Haiti. However, Haiti has been in constant turmoil, hampering US efforts.
Since late 2022, more than half a million people have arrived in the United States under the policy, also known as CHNV. It was part of the Biden administration’s strategy to encourage people to use new legal channels while cracking down on those who crossed the border illegally.
