Homeland Security revokes temporary status for 532,000 Cubans, Haitians,
Nicaraguans and Venezuelans
[March 22, 2025]
By GISELA SALOMON
MIAMI (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it
will revoke legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans,
Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, setting them up for potential
deportation in about a month.
The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who
came to the United States since October 2022. They arrived with
financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in
the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose
their legal status on April 24, or 30 days after the publication of the
notice in the Federal Register.
The new policy impacts people who are already in the U.S. and who came
under the humanitarian parole program. It follows an earlier Trump
administration decision to end what it called the “broad abuse” of the
humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to
allow people from countries where there’s war or political instability
to enter and temporarily live in the U.S.
During his campaign President Donald Trump promised to deport millions
of people who are in the U.S. illegally, and as president he has been
also ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the U.S. and to
stay.
DHS said parolees without a lawful basis to stay in the U.S. “must
depart” before their parole termination date.
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying
basis for obtaining any immigration status,” DHS said.
Before the new order, the beneficiaries of the program could stay in the
U.S. until their parole expires, although the administration had stopped
processing their applications for asylum, visas and other requests that
might allow them to remain longer.
The administration decision has already been challenged in federal
courts.
A group of American citizens and immigrants sued the Trump
administration for ending humanitarian parole and are seeking to
reinstate the programs for the four nationalities.
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at U.S. Coast Guard
Air Station Kodiak during a tour, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Kodiak,
Alaska. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Lawyers and activists raised their voices to denounce the
government’s decision.
Friday's action is "going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for
families and communities across the country,” said Karen Tumlin,
founder and director of Justice Action Center, one of the
organizations that filed the lawsuit at the end of February. She
called it “reckless, cruel and counterproductive.”
The Biden administration allowed up to 30,000 people a month from
the four countries to come to the United States for two years with
eligibility to work. It persuaded Mexico to take back the same
number from those countries because the U.S. could deport few, if
any, to their homes.
Cuba generally accepted about one deportation flight a month, while
Venezuela and Nicaragua refused to take any. All three are U.S.
adversaries.
Haiti accepted many deportation flights, especially after a surge of
migrants from the Caribbean country in the small border town of Del
Rio, Texas, in 2021. But Haiti has been in constant turmoil,
hampering U.S. efforts.
Since late 2022, more than half a million people have come to the
U.S. under the policy, also known as CHNV. It was a part of the
Biden administration’s approach to encourage people to come through
new legal channels while cracking down on those who crossed the
border illegally.
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AP editor Elliot Spagat and writer Tim Sullivan contributed to this
report.
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