The United States government announced on Friday that it is ending the legal status of over half a million immigrants, giving them a limited window to leave the country.
President Donald Trump has vowed to carry out a large-scale deportation effort, targeting mainly immigrants from Latin America.
This decision impacts around 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who entered the U.S. through a program launched by former President Joe Biden in October 2022 and expanded in early 2023.
According to the order, their legal protection will expire 30 days after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) publishes the announcement in the “Federal Register”, which is set for Tuesday.
This means they must leave the U.S. by April 24 unless they secure another legal immigration status.
Organizations like Welcome.US, which assists refugees, have advised affected immigrants to seek legal guidance immediately to explore their options.
The program, officially known as the “Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV)”, allowed up to 30,000 migrants per month to enter the U.S. for two years.
Biden promoted the initiative as a humane and organized way to manage immigration and reduce pressure at the U.S.-Mexico border.
However, DHS emphasized that the program was always meant 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 agency stated.
In a separate move last week, Trump used emergency wartime authority to deport over 200 suspected members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, which has offered to house detained migrants—including some U.S. citizens—at a reduced cost.
KanyiDaily recalls that President Donald Trump recently introduced a plan to replace the existing EB-5 investor visa with a new “gold card” program.
