The Donald Trump administration is mulling to revoke the temporary legal status of 5.32 lakh immigrants from Latin America and Haiti. US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24.
The government has urged these immigrants to be prepared for arrest if they are not willing to self-deport. Following this, these immigrants will be forcibly deported by authorities. The latest move is in line with Trump's election campaign promise of deporting millions of immigrants.
Trump admin is revoking status for 530,000 citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela who flew into U.S. via Biden’s CHNV parole program pic.twitter.com/E3LLE32b2g
— Merissa Hansen (@merissahansen17) March 22, 2025
The Federal Registrar is expected to terminate their work permits and protection from deportation on March 25. The immigrants will have a 30-day period to self-deport. Officials have been encouraging people to use the CBP Home smartphone app to get deported themselves.
These 5,32,000 immigrants were given temporary legal status by the previous Joe Biden administration under its sponsorship process called CHNV (Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans).
The program, which kickstarted in October 2022, was aimed at easing the strain at the border to streamline the asylum-seeking process. It also helped crack down on illegal immigrants. This allowed around 30,000 people from these four countries to enter the US for two years with eligibility to work. The CHNV program was similar to large-scale parole status given to evacuees from Afghanistan and refugees from Ukraine.
Trump terminated further immigration under CHNV on January 20 and now plans to revoke parole to earlier immigrants as well. "If you have not sought a lawful status or period of authorized stay, you will need to leave the United States before your authorized parole period expires, or you may be placed in removal proceedings after your period of parole expires," reads a government notice.
The immigrants have to leave the US if the humanitarian parole expires. However, they could stay by extending their parole or obtaining another lawful immigration status. But with Trump terminating the programme altogether, these immigrants are left with few options.
