The United States has announced the termination of a legal program that allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants to reside in the country, giving them just weeks to leave.
President Donald Trump, who has vowed to implement the most extensive deportation campaign in U.S. history, is focusing on reducing immigration, particularly from Latin American nations.
The directive impacts approximately 532,000 individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
These immigrants had entered the U.S. under a program initiated by former President Joe Biden in October 2022 and later expanded in January 2023.
According to the order, once the Department of Homeland Security publishes the ruling in the Federal Register on Tuesday, affected individuals will have 30 days, until April 24, to either secure an alternative legal status or leave the country.
Welcome.US, an organization assisting those seeking refuge in the U.S., has urged impacted individuals to “immediately” consult an immigration lawyer for guidance.
The program, officially named the Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans , was designed to provide temporary entry for up to 30,000 migrants per month from nations known for human rights violations. Biden had promoted the initiative as a “safe and humane” approach to reducing strain on the overwhelmed U.S.-Mexico border.
However, the Department of Homeland Security reaffirmed on Friday that the program was always intended to be temporary.
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status, nor does it constitute an admission to the United States,” the department stated in its order.
Additionally, Trump recently exercised a rarely used wartime law to deport more than 200 suspected members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador.
The Central American nation has agreed to detain these migrants—along with U.S. citizens, at a discounted rate.
