The US government, under President Donald Trump, is set to terminate the temporary legal status of over 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, giving them weeks to leave the country.
According to a notice posted by the US federal government, the migrants from these countries have been warned to leave the country before their permits and deportation shield are cancelled on April 24 ¹.
The 530,000 migrants were brought into the US under a Biden-era sponsorship process known as CHNV that was designed to open legal migration pathways. However, Trump suspended the programme once he took office. It is unclear how many of these migrants have been able to secure another status in the interim that would allow them to stay in the US legally.
The programme was launched under former President Joe Biden in 2022, first covering Venezuelans before it was expanded to other countries. The programme allowed the migrants and their immediate family members to fly into the US if they had American sponsors and remain for two years under a temporary immigration status known as parole.
The Biden administration had argued that CHNV would help curb illegal crossings at the southern US border and allow for better vetting of those entering the country. However, the Department of Homeland Security on Friday rebuked the prior administration, saying the programme had failed in its goals.
The agency’s statement said Biden officials had “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.”
Despite this, the 35-page notice in the Federal Register said some of those in the US under CHNV might be allowed to remain on a “case-by-case basis”. Trump is also considering whether to cancel the temporary legal status of some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the US during the conflict with Russia.
The CHNV programme had allowed a significant number of migrants to enter the US, including 213,000 Haitians, 120,700 Venezuelans, 110,900 Cubans, and 93,000 Nicaraguans. However, with the programme’s termination, these migrants are now facing an uncertain future.