The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it would revoke temporary legal status of more than 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.
The order shortened the two-year “parole” program known as CHNV under Joe Biden, who allowed 532,000 people who arrived in the US since October 2022 to live and work in the US along with financial sponsors. Noem’s notice said on April 24th that he would lose his legal status.
The new policies will affect those who are already in the United States and have participated in humanitarian parole programs. It follows the previous Trump administration’s decision to end what is called “broad-based abuse” of humanitarian parole. Longtime legal tool presidents have used it to allow people from countries with war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the United States.
During his campaign, Donald Trump has pledged to illegally deport millions of people in the United States, and as president, he has ended the legal pathway for immigrants to come and stay in the United States.
Under the new policy, if there is no legal basis for parole to remain in the United States, it must leave before parole ends.
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole is not the fundamental basis for achieving immigration status,” DHS said.
Trump said on March 6 he would “quickly” decide whether to strip the parole status of about 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the US during the conflict with Russia. Trump’s remarks came in response to a Reuters report in April that said his administration was planning to revoke the status of the Ukrainians.
Biden launched the Venezuelan parole entry program in 2022 and expanded to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans in 2023, as his administration was tackling high levels of illegal immigration from those nationalities. The diplomatic and political ties between the four countries and the United States are tense.
The new legal route comes when Biden tried to crack down on illegal intersections at the US-Mexico border.
The Trump administration’s decision to strip 500,000 immigrants of legal status could make many people vulnerable to deportation if they choose to stay in the United States. It remains unclear whether the number of people who entered the United States on parole currently holds another form of protection or legal status.
The order has already been challenged in federal courts. A group of American citizens and immigrants is suing the Trump administration to end humanitarian parole and seeking to revive a program for people of four nationalities.
Lawyers and activists spoke up to condemn the government’s decision.
Friday’s actions, Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, one of the organisations that filed the lawsuit at the end of February, said Friday’s actions would “provoke unnecessary disruption and heartbreak for families and communities across the country.” She called it “reckless, cruel and counterproductive.”
