Venezuelan nationals deported under the CHNV program arrive at Simón Bolívar International Airport on February 24.
The legal status of hundreds of thousands of Latin American and Haitian migrants is set to be revoked, in the latest effort by the Trump Administration to rid the country of large numbers of foreign migrants.
A Biden-era program sought to reduce illegal border crossings by allowing migrants to fly into the United States if they could obtain sponsorship. The program, which began in 2022 by targeting Venezuelan nationals, was expanded in early 2023 to include Cuban, Haitian, and Nicaraguan migrants as well. By August 2023, over 530,000 individuals had entered the United States under the auspices of the CHNV program. The program offered them immigration parole for two years, allowing them to live and work in the United States.
In October 2024, President Biden decided against extending the program, meaning that the migrants would have to either obtain legal status through other channels, leave the country, or face deportation.
President Trump, who had indicated while running for office that he would terminate CHNV and many other Biden-era immigration programs, is now doing exactly that, and speeding up the program's end.
A notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on March 25, next Tuesday, announced that the Department of Homeland Security “is terminating the categorical parole programs for inadmissible aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and their immediate family members.”
The notice explains that 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register, the parole of everyone under the programs whose parole has not already expired will be terminated. Those with no other legal basis to remain in the country are being urged to leave before that occurs.
According to the DHS notice, “a review of the history of the parole authority supports the contention that discretionary parole determinations were intended by Congress to be narrowly tailored to specific instances and not based on a set of broadly applicable eligibility criteria.” In other words, DHS expects that parole determinations be made only on “a case-by-case basis, taking into account each alien's unique circumstances.” The ultimate determination of parole rests with Customs and Border Protection officers, DHS argues.
The 35-page notice outlines the Department of Homeland Security's rationale for why the CHNV program, at best, traded one problem – a crush of migrants arriving at the southern border – for another – an influx of migrants competing “for limited resources such as housing, food, transportation, education, legal services, and public benefits.”
With border crossings significantly down since President Trump's inauguration, DHS argues that the need for the CHNV program has been obviated. “U.S. foreign policy has changed in critical respects, and DHS must expeditiously align its policies to that change,” said the notice, which is attributed to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
