The Trump administration plans to revoke the legal status of hundreds of thousands of Latin American and Haitian immigrants admitted to the U.S. under a Biden-era sponsorship program, according to CBS News.
The termination of work permits and deportation protections under a policy known as parole is set to take effect in late April, or 30 days after March 25, according to a federal government notice.
The policy change will impact migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who entered the U.S. through the Biden administration’s CHNV program, which was allowed more than 532,000 migrants to enter the U.S.
The program has been widely criticized by Republicans who claimed it circumvented limits set by Congress on legal immigration and pointed to instances of fraud.
The program was designed to curb illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border by providing legal pathways. It is unclear how many of these migrants have obtained further legal documentation allowing their continued stay in the country, CBS said.
The Department of Homeland Security said it would seek to arrest and deport those who fail to leave the U.S. within the next 30 days. Officials are urging affected immigrants to use the CBP Home smartphone app to register for self-deportation. The 30-day period doesn't mean that migrants will not be targeted by DHS, the news agency said.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told CBS that the migrants allowed into the U.S. under the CHNV process were "loosely vetted," and argued the program disadvantaged American workers.
"The termination of the CHNV parole programs, and the termination of parole for those who exploited it, is a return to common-sense policies, a return to public safety, and a return to America First," McLaughlin said.
