On his first day in office, President Donald Trump ended the humanitarian parole that granted two years of legal stay in the United States to Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians. Experts give their opinion on what could happen to the beneficiaries and those awaiting approval.
Through an executive order signed on Monday, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, ended the humanitarian parole program that had been implemented by the previous administration for Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians.
This process allowed citizens of those countries to live and work legally for two years in United States territory. As of December 2024, some 531,690 people had arrived in the country under this program, according to data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The executive order called “Securing Our Borders” establishes different actions related to immigration that President Trump sought to prioritize from the first day of his administration. Among them, adopt “all appropriate measures” to build the border wall, deploy defense personnel to the southern border and detain irregular migrants.
The purpose of this, according to the document, is “to stop the unprecedented flood of illegal aliens into the United States.”
The determination on humanitarian parole was made together at the end of the CBP One applicationwhich allowed migrants to make an appointment with an immigration official at one of the border ports neighboring Mexico.
“The executive order seeks to end a Biden-era program that created a special process for nationals of these four countries that Trump's executive order deemed contrary to United States policies,” he told the Voice of America Cori Alonso-Yoder, professor specializing in immigration law at George Washington University.
What happens now?
The executive order put into effect the immediate suspension of new applications from people seeking to be sponsors of these migrants.
To be eligible for this program, Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians had to have a “sponsor” or financial sponsor within the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported Tuesday that the elimination of the program will be done “gradually.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country. This all stopped on the first day of the Trump Administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose analyzing migrants on a case-by-case basis,” a DHS spokesperson said in a written communication.
Elizabeth Jacobs, an expert at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, explained to the Voice of America that “individuals who have already received parole through this program are likely to be allowed to remain in the United States on parole until their term expires.”
This, he added, means that people would return to the status they had before they were granted parole, “that is, without status.”
Thomas Rachko of the Hispanic Leadership Institute at George Washington University, highlighted the VOA that part of the suspension of this program includes that “the CHNV website previously maintained by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Biden administration is no longer available.”
“That lack of clarity and uncertainty is a familiar feeling for immigrant communities without permanent legal status or citizenship,” Rachko added.
For its part, the organization Welcome.US, which helped migrants connect with potential sponsors, said that “it is not clear at this time whether the new administration will continue to process the applications that Americans have already submitted.”
Specifically, according to CBP, 110,970 Cubans, 213,150 Haitians, 96,270 Nicaraguans and 120,760 Venezuelans were examined and authorized to travel; and 110,240 Cubans, 211,040 Haitians, 93,070 Nicaraguans and 117,330 Venezuelans arrived in the United States.
“Those who had the protection of parole before January 20 will have to seek their immigration status through other means or risk being expelled from the United States,” added Alonso-Yoder.
Since its creation, humanitarian parole had a time limit of two years that was not renewable.
“The incoming Trump administration has said that not only will it cancel any future use of humanitarian parole for Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, but it will not renew it,” Doris Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington said in a call with reporters Tuesday. .
Meissner added that, at the moment, there has been no indication in the executive orders that the humanitarian parole will be canceled for those who are already beneficiaries of the program. But, “they are certainly not going to renew it.”
“So what's wrong with those people? If they stay in the United States (after the two-year period is up), of course, they fall into unauthorized status. “They lose their work authorization and are certainly subject to deportation,” he noted.
Legal migration alternatives
In implementing humanitarian parole, DHS established in the official program document that the two years of parole would allow “individuals to apply for humanitarian aid or other immigration benefits.”
Cubans, for the most part, have the possibility of requesting the regulation of their status thanks to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which offers them a path to permanent residence. Venezuelans and Haitians could qualify for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which offers relief from deportation and a work permit.
Nicaraguans and the other three nationalities are eligible to apply for asylum, however, they must be able to demonstrate credible fear of persecution in their home countries due to their race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion.
This program was first implemented by President Biden's administration in October 2022, aimed only at Venezuelans. In January 2023, it was expanded to Nicaraguans, Cubans and Haitians, the nationalities most represented at that time among irregular immigrants arriving at the southern border of the United States.