The United States said Friday it was terminating the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, giving them weeks to leave the country.
President Donald Trump has promised to execute the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history and reduce immigration, particularly from Latin American countries.
The move affects approximately 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who arrived in the United States under a program initiated by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, in October 2022 and expanded in January 2023.
These individuals will lose their legal protection 30 days after the Department of Homeland Security’s order is published in the Federal Register, which is expected on Tuesday.
This means that immigrants under the program must leave the U.S. by April 24 unless they have secured a different immigration status that allows them to remain in the country, according to the order.
Welcome.US, an organization supporting refugees in the U.S., urged those affected by the decision to “immediately” consult an immigration lawyer for guidance.
The Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) program, introduced in January 2023, permitted up to 30,000 migrants per month from these four countries, which are known for their poor human rights records, to enter the U.S. for two years.
Biden had promoted the program as a “safe and humane” approach to alleviating pressure on the congested U.S.-Mexico border.
However, the Department of Homeland Security emphasized on Friday that the program was always intended to be “temporary.”
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone does not serve as a basis for obtaining any permanent immigration status, nor does it constitute an admission to the United States,” the order stated.
Last week, Trump invoked rare wartime legislation to deport over 200 suspected members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, which has agreed to imprison migrants and even U.S. citizens at a reduced rate.
