Donald Trump's administration delivered on a promise repeated ad nauseam in his campaign and last Friday activated the cancellation of the humanitarian parole that benefited about 531,690 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who arrived in the United States between 2022 and 2024 thanks to a controversial immigration program introduced by his predecessor. The current narrative is that this initiative abused executive authority to grant parole and promoted the entry of thousands of “inadmissible aliens”. Those who were able to benefit from this program landed safely at a U.S. airport—flying directly from their home countries—without undergoing the grueling and dangerous land crossings through Central America. They needed the support of a validated U.S.-based sponsor who would vouch for them for two years and were able to work legally in the U.S. during that period. The program never promised more than this, so migrants had to apply for some immigration benefit to continue living the “American dream” after the grace period expired; the Biden administration itself insisted on this weeks before leaving Pennsylvania Avenue. The majority of those involved in the program, which had its prime in 2023, have not yet completed two years in the United States. According to federal records, some 75,000 have applied for asylum, which has meant an increase in “the immigration court backlog.”
SourceOn April 25, those CHNV program-backed parolees without a lawful basis to remain in the United States are subject to prompt removal. DHS will prioritize those who have not applied for an immigration benefit to obtain a lawful basis to remain before the publication of the notice—a controversial legal move—or who are not beneficiaries of an application on their behalf—seeking a lawful basis to remain as well—from a family member or employer. The employment authorization attached to the humanitarian parole is also rescinded after April 25. The Trump team ended the program now also to retain the legal ability to remove beneficiaries through expedited removal proceedings, which are disqualified when an alien has been continuously present in the country for at least two years. I am not aware of any court challenges to this decision by the administration. Among the four nationalities involved here, it is the Cuban one that is privileged thanks to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which allows immigrants from the Island to adjust their status “to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence” when they have been admitted or paroled and have been “physically present in the United States for at least one year”. This frees them from the lack of safeguards in the political asylum application process, a condition that is very difficult to prove in most cases, including them.
Trump travel ban may hit MLB players from Cuba, Venezuela https://t.co/BGXZK6MXrw
— Axios (@axios) March 21, 2025
Venezuela reaches agreement with US to resume repatriation flights of migrants - statement https://t.co/9Q5jKD11IB
— Reuters Venezuela (@ReutersVzla) March 22, 2025
