DHS Revokes Temporary Legal Status of 530,000 Immigrants

The Biden-era CHNV parole program allows up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela into the United States each month.

Customs and Border Patrol officers arrive with a vehicle after a group of illegal immigrants walked from Mexico into the United States at Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif., on June 5, 2024. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

More than 530,000 immigrants who entered the United States under the former Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program will have their legal status revoked late next month, according to a notice by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 21.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated in the notice that the department will end the two-year parole program, known as CHNV program, launched in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden to allow entry of people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, who had U.S. sponsors.

Noem said that DHS will revoke the parole status of those immigrants on April 24, or within 30 days of the notice’s publication in the Federal Register. The notice is scheduled for formal publication on March 25.

“Parolees without a lawful basis to remain in the United States following this termination of the CHNV parole programs must depart the United States before their parole termination date,” she stated.

The notice states that Noem may terminate parole if she determines that “neither urgent humanitarian reasons nor significant public benefit warrants the continued presence of the alien in the United States” or when “the purpose for which it was authorized has been accomplished.”

Biden launched the CHNV parole program for Venezuelans in October 2022 to reduce illegal border crossings by flying eligible immigrants directly to the United States. It was expanded in January 2023 to include immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua.

The program allows up to 30,000 immigrants from the four countries into the United States each month, provided they meet certain conditions, including having a sponsor in the United States who will provide them financial support.

According to the DHS notice, about 532,000 immigrants have been allowed entry into the country under the CHNV parole program since 2022, but it remains unclear how many still hold valid parole status.

In August 2024, the Biden administration paused the parole program after authorities discovered fraudulent information in thousands of application forms filed by sponsors.

An internal report by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) uncovered sponsors using fake Social Security numbers, Social Security numbers of dead people, and false phone numbers.

Later that year, the Biden administration barred CHNV parole recipients from extending their legal status but continued accepting new applications for the parole program.

After taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump signed several executive actions to deter and prevent illegal immigration, including increasing deportations and terminating the CBP One app service, which was established by the Biden administration to allow those without legal entry papers to schedule appointments at U.S. ports of entry.

Following Trump’s order, acting DHS secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a directive to end “the broad abuse of humanitarian parole” and phase out any parole programs that do not align with Trump’s policy.

“The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country,” Huffman stated on Jan. 21. “This was all stopped on day one of the Trump Administration.”

Karen Tumlin, founder and director at Justice Action Center (JAC), a nonprofit organization advocating immigrant rights, called the Trump administration’s move to end the CHNV program “reckless” and “cruel.”

Tumlin said in a statement that the DHS’s sudden revocation of the legal status of CHNV parole recipients could cause “needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country.”

“Justice Action Center will continue to stand alongside beneficiaries and their sponsors to protect humanitarian parole in court, where we will defend humanitarian parole on Monday at 11 a.m. in Boston,” Tumlin said.

JAC is representing a group of beneficiaries, sponsors, and the Haitian Bridge Alliance in a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration on Feb. 28, challenging the termination of the humanitarian parole program and efforts to halt all pending applications.