Despite widely lauding the program’s success, the Biden administration will not extend the two-year period of lawful U.S. presence granted to people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who entered the United States under a program known as CHNV parole. Launched in January 2023, the CHNV program uses a mechanism known as parole to grant up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela lawful entry to the United States each month.
Parole in the immigration context is a form of discretionary relief under which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can grant permission for people to enter or remain in the U.S. It serves as a tool for the U.S. to provide urgently needed humanitarian relief to people fleeing dangerous situations.
The humanitarian needs of people from the CHNV parole countries are indisputable. Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela are all countries in crisis due to the combined effects of political and economic instability, the lingering economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and, for some, natural disasters and U.S. sanctions.
Participants in the CHNV parole program must have a U.S.-based sponsor and the ability to pay for air travel from their home country to the United States. The government provides CHNV program participants two years’ lawful status in the United States—protections the Biden administration is now declining to extend. This means that unless they have other pathways to lawful status, the first people to obtain CHNV parole will be left without status as soon as this month, facing the risk of deportation back to treacherous and potentially deadly circumstances in their home countries.
The CHNV program has been a lifeline for many in search of safety. Some CHNV program participants have been able to obtain other, permanent lawful protections during the two years parole status the program grants, but many have not, and need additional time to seek out legal services and to pursue more permanent forms of protection. As a result, the administration’s decision not to extend protections to this population leaves many community members in legal limbo and vulnerable to deportation. It also raises grave equity concerns, as the administration did provide extended parole status to participants in similar programs from Ukraine and Afghanistan.
The cruelty inherent in terminating CHNV participants’ access to a safe haven after only two years is compounded by the fact that only people with connections in the U.S. can apply for CHNV parole. Eligibility for CHNV parole is limited to people who have a supporter who lives in the U.S. and is willing to commit to providing financial support to a parole applicant and their close family members, as well as providing information about their income and assets to DHS and submitting to a background check. By failing to extend parole for those who arrived through the CHNV program, the administration puts families at imminent risk of separation.
In announcing its decision, DHS has explained that CHNV parolees are expected to apply for asylum or other forms of humanitarian relief within their initial period of parole. This explanation rings hollow for many. The availability of immigration remedies depends on each person’s circumstances and country of origin. Many people will be left in an undocumented status because no relief is available to them; others simply need more time to accrue equities or find affordable legal services.
For the CHNV populations, the limited options for transitioning to another lawful status include:
- Cuban Adjustment Act: Cubans who have been living in the U.S. for a least a year may be eligible for Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status. This program is not available to people from other countries.
- Asylum: People applying for asylum must demonstrate extraordinary circumstances to do so more than a year after arriving in the U.S. Further, asylum is only available to people who can demonstrate that they have been persecuted, or fear persecution, on specific protected grounds if they return to their home country.
- Temporary Protected Status (TPS): TPS is granted to citizens of individual countries who are present in the U.S. when an event, such as a natural disaster or war, makes it unsafe to return to their country. TPS is time-limited and does not provide a pathway to a permanent status. Venezuela and Haiti are currently designated for TPS, but only for people who arrived in the United States before a certain date.
- Family-Based Immigration: Some people who entered on parole status may have family members who are willing to sponsor them to become Lawful Permanent Residents. If the family member is not an immediate relative, however, the wait for a visa can continue for years.
The Biden administration made great strides in developing the CHNV program and parole programs for people fleeing Afghanistan and Ukraine. These programs open new pathways for people seeking safety and a better life in the United States. They also have the potential to ease pressure on the Southwest border by providing alternative routes to safety.
But these programs also constitute a promise that the Biden administration now threatens to break. It is unjust and inhumane to invite people into our communities and then pull the rug out from under them, even as American communities are benefiting from their many contributions. Failing to extend protections to CHNV community members is a misguided response to extremist politicians, one that will leave our community members at risk of deportation and undermine our shared values of empathy, compassion, and justice.
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