The Trump administration has announced plans to revoke the temporary legal status of more than half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Migrants without a legal basis to remain in the US have been advised to leave before their work permits and protections against deportation are canceled on April 24, according to a notice from the federal government.
The affected migrants entered the US under a sponsorship program known as CHNV, which was established during the Biden administration to create legal pathways for migration. Trump suspended this program upon taking office.
It remains uncertain how many of these migrants have secured alternative legal status that would permit them to stay in the US. Launched by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022, the program initially covered Venezuelans before expanding to include migrants from other nations.
Through the CHNV program, migrants and their immediate family members were allowed to enter the US if they had American sponsors and were granted a temporary immigration status known as parole for a duration of two years. The Biden administration argued that this program would help reduce illegal border crossings at the southern US border.
In a counter-statement, the Department of Homeland Security accused the previous administration of misleading the public. The agency asserted that Biden officials “granted them [migrants] 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.”
Nevertheless, a 35-page notice in the Federal Register indicated that some individuals in the US under the CHNV program might be permitted to remain on a “case-by-case basis.”
Trump is also contemplating the cancellation of temporary legal status for roughly 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the US amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Credit: BBC News
