U.S. Ends Legal Protections for Many Immigrants
The United States announced on Friday that it is revoking the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, leaving them only a few weeks to leave the country.
President Donald Trump has promised to launch the most extensive deportation campaign in U.S. history while also seeking to limit immigration, particularly from countries in Latin America.
This latest order impacts approximately 532,000 individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. These immigrants initially came to the U.S. under a program that was established in October 2022 by former President Joe Biden and later expanded in January 2023.
They will lose their legal protections 30 days after the Department of Homeland Security publishes the order in the Federal Register, which is expected to happen on Tuesday. As a result, those affected must leave the U.S. by April 24 unless they have found another immigration status that enables them to stay.
Welcome.US, an organization that assists individuals seeking refuge in the U.S., strongly advises people impacted by this decision to seek advice from an immigration lawyer as soon as possible.
The Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) program, introduced in January 2023, allowed up to 30,000 migrants from these countries to enter the U.S. each month for a period of two years. The initiative was framed by Biden as a "safe and humane" solution to alleviate congestion at the busy U.S.-Mexico border.
However, the Department of Homeland Security reaffirmed on Friday that this program was always intended to be temporary. They emphasized that "parole is inherently temporary" and does not guarantee any lasting immigration status or constitute an admission into the U.S.
Last week, Trump also used a rarely invoked wartime law to deport over 200 individuals suspected of being part of a Venezuelan gang back to El Salvador, which has agreed to hold these migrants, and even U.S. citizens, at a reduced cost.
