Donald Trump’s administration has revoked the temporary legal status of more than half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The measure will see work permits and deportation protections for roughly 532,000 people, who entered the US legally under a Biden-era humanitarian parole programme, will be terminated on April 24. A notice posted by the Department of Homeland Security said: “Parolees without a lawful basis to remain in the United States following this termination of the CHNV parole programs must depart the United States before their parole termination date”.
According to the notice, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is revoking legal protections because she “has concluded that neither urgent humanitarian reasons nor significant public benefit warrants the continued presence of aliens paroled under the CHNV programs and the purposes of such parole therefore have been served”.
It adds the department plans to “remove promptly aliens who entered the United States under the CHNV parole programs who do not depart the United States before their parole termination date and do not have any lawful basis to remain in the United States”.
President Biden launched the controversial programme in 2022, first covering Venezuelans before it was expanded to other countries. It allowed migrants with financial sponsors to be given two-year permits to live and work in the US and was part of the his administration’s approach to encourage migrants to use legal channels, while cracking down on those who crossed the border illegally.
However, Trump – who promised to deport millions of people who are in the US illegally during his presidential campaign – swiftly cancelled it on his first day in office following claims of “broad abuse” after an internal government review found that thousands of sponsors for the migrants were listing fake social security numbers or phone numbers and using the same physical address for thousands of parole applications.
The administration decision has already been challenged in federal courts. Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit at the end of February, called the new announcement “reckless, cruel and counterproductive”. She added it is “going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country”.
A DHS spokesperson said the CHNV migrants allowed into the US under former President Joe Biden were “loosely vetted” and “undercut American workers.” They claimed: “The previous administration lied to America.
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“They allowed more than half a million loosely vetted aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and their immediate family members to enter the United States through these disastrous parole programmes and granted them opportunities to compete for American jobs and undercut American workers”.
The spokesperson also alleged Biden’s administration “forced career civil servants to promote the programmes even when fraud was identified and then blamed Republicans in Congress for the chaos that ensued and the crime that followed”.
The new announcement comes just a week after it was reported Trump’s administration may bring in travel bans on up to 43 countries – with visas from Russia “sharply restricted”. The mooted three-tier restrictions would be wider than his barring entry from nations with predominantly Muslim populations imposed in his first presidency.
Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea are thought to be among the 11 “red list” countries who may face the harshest measures. Ten more “orange list” nations, including Russia, Belarus and Haiti, could face partial-suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas, as well as other immigrant visas.
A third “yellow” group, including 22 countries, mostly from Africa, could reportedly face a partial-suspension of US visas if their governments “do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days”.
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