U.S. President Donald Trump ended on Monday a humanitarian parole program that benefited Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, and Haitians.
Under the executive order called “Securing Our Borders,” which outlines various immigration-related actions, President Trump aimed to take “all appropriate action” to build the border wall, deploying defense personnel to the southern border, and detain irregular migrants. It also asks for elimination of certain parole programs.
One such program, the CHNV program (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela) allowed up to 30,000 individuals per month from those countries to enter the United States legally and stay for a period of up to two years, provided they had a U.S.-based supporter.
As of December 2024, about 531,690 people had entered the country under that program, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Beneficiaries were required to have a valid passport, arrange their own travel, and pass national security and public safety vetting, among other criteria.
The Biden White House announced the CHNV parole program on January 5, 2023. Officials at the time said the initiative was part of the administration’s efforts to discourage unlawful entries along the U.S. southern border.
The program was modeled on the Ukraine program and an earlier Venezuelan program.
Immediate effects
The executive order took effect immediately. That means that no new applications will be accepted from individuals seeking to sponsor those migrants.
Elizabeth Jacobs of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based group that advocates restricting immigration to the U.S., told VOA that those who have received parole already through this program will likely be allowed to remain in the United States as parolees until their parole period expires.”
At that time, Jacobs said, those individuals would be “without status” and at risk of deportation.
Programs like CNHV were a way “Americans have been able to legally and safely sponsor newcomers in need of refuge to come to the United States, including Afghan allies,” Nazanin Ash, CEO of Welcome.US, wrote on their website.
“Those who had parole protection before January 20 will have to seek immigration status through other means or risk deportation from the United States,” Cori Alonso-Yoder, told VOA. She is an immigration law professor at George Washington University.
The executive orders do not indicate that humanitarian parole will be revoked for current beneficiaries of the program, said Doris Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington during a press call on Tuesday. However, “they certainly will not renew it.”
“So what happens to those people? If they stay in the U.S. once the two-year period ends, they will, of course, fall into unauthorized status. They will lose their work authorization and will certainly be subject to deportation,” she noted.
Other legal options
The program was not a path to U.S. citizenship or permanent residence. However, according to immigration lawyers, beneficiaries may be able to adjust their immigration status from temporary parole to a more permanent one, such as a visa or sponsorship through a U.S. relative, which can lead to a green card.
Cubans, after a year in the U.S., can apply for permanent residence under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Venezuelans and Haitians may qualify for Temporary Protected Status, which provides relief from deportation and work authorization.
They could also apply for asylum along with Nicaraguans. However, they must demonstrate a credible fear of persecution in their home countries based on race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion.
