Legal status for 500,000 immigrants revoked by US
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Washington: The United States announced on Friday it would revoke the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, giving them just weeks to leave the nation.
President Donald Trump has committed to carrying out the largest deportation campaign in US history and reducing immigration, particularly from Latin American countries.
The decision impacts around 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who entered the US under a program initiated by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, in October 2022 and expanded in January of the following year.
These individuals will lose their legal protection 30 days after the Department of Homeland Security’s order is published in the Federal Register, expected on Tuesday.
The order states that immigrants enrolled in the program must "depart the United States" by April 24 unless they secure another immigration status that permits them to stay. Welcome.US, an organization that supports refugees, has advised those impacted to "immediately" consult an immigration lawyer.
The Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) program, introduced in January 2023, allowed up to 30,000 migrants per month from these four countries, which have concerning human rights records, to stay in the US for two years, according to AFP.
President Biden described the initiative as a "safe and humane" approach to reducing pressure on the US-Mexico border. However, the Department of Homeland Security emphasized on Friday that the program was "temporary.”
The Department of Homeland Security clarified in its order that parole is by nature temporary and does not serve as a foundation for obtaining immigration status, nor does it grant admission to the United States.
Nicolette Glazer, an immigration lawyer based in California, explained that the order would impact the majority of the approximately half a million immigrants who arrived in the US under the CHNV program, as reported by AFP.
She pointed out that only 75,000 asylum applications had been filed, meaning most of the CHNV parolees would end up without legal status, or work permits, and could face deportation. Glazer warned that the situation could lead to significant chaos.
President Trump recently used rare wartime legislation to deport over 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, a country that has offered to imprison migrants and even US citizens at reduced rates.
Over the past decade, more than seven million Venezuelans have fled their country, which has been suffering from economic collapse under the leadership of President Nicolás Maduro, a figure who has faced extensive sanctions from the US.