On Thursday, the administration of President Trump started informing around 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela that their legal status has been terminated and that they should promptly self-deport themselves.
The notices of termination were sent out by email to migrants who were enrolled in a contentious “humanitarian parole” program during the administration of Vice President Joe Biden.
This program provided foreign nationals from the four nations with work permits and protection from deportation for a period of up to two years.
The Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, issued a statement in which she stated, “The Biden Administration lied to America.”
“They allowed more than half a million poorly vetted aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and their immediate family members to enter the United States through these disastrous parole programs; granted them opportunities to compete for American jobs and undercut American workers; forced career civil servants to promote the programs even when fraud was identified; and then blamed Republicans in Congress for the chaos that ensued and the crime that followed.”
“Ending the CHNV parole programs, as well as the paroles of those who exploited it, will be a necessary return to common-sense policies, a return to public safety, and a return to America First,” McLaughlin continued.
In October 2022, the government of Vice President Joe Biden initiated the parole program, which made it possible for up to 30,000 migrants from Latin American countries to enter the country each month, beginning with Venezuelans.
Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans were all eligible to participate in the program beginning in January of 2023.
An attempt was made by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to reduce illegal immigration during record surges at the border; nevertheless, the program was hampered by widespread fraud attempts.
It was briefly halted in July of last year after an internal examination discovered that hundreds of sponsors for the migrants were listing fraudulent social security numbers or phone numbers and using the same physical location for thousands of parole applications. This led to the suspension of the program.
Read Also: Trump ‘Gold Card’ Website Launches With $5 Million Waitlist
According to a US Citizenship and Immigration Services examination, “many applications were submitted by the same IP address,” and “some 100 addresses were listed on over 19,000 forms.”
The Biden administration prohibited program participants from extending their temporary legal status in October 2024.
On his first day in office, President Trump quickly terminated the program, preventing the submission of any new applications.
Last month, the Supreme Court affirmed Trump’s decision to terminate the program.
DHS urged migrants to self-deport through the Trump administration’s CBP Home Mobile App in its news release, stating that they will receive travel assistance and a $1,000 exit incentive when they return home if they do so.
