WASHINGTON – The Trump administration will be revoking by the end of April an immigration status of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans that allows hundreds of thousands of migrants to work in the U.S. because of economic, security, political, and health crises in their home countries.
The program called Temporary Protected Status provided a haven in the U.S. for 532,000 immigrants under the Biden administration in 2022 and 2023, according to government figures. Advocacy groups for the migrants estimate 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians now participate in the program.
At least three federal lawsuits are pending in an attempt to block the end of the program. Some migrants may have found other programs to remain in the U.S. About 75,000 of the migrants applied for asylum, meaning they feared persecution in their home countries.
By terminating their work permits and deportation protections, Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, invited the migrants to deport themselves or potentially face removal by government authorities. The program for the four countries is slated to end 30 days after a notice is published in the Federal Register on Tuesday.
Among the federal lawsuits fighting to continue the program, a hearing is scheduled Monday in federal court in northern California on a motion to speed up the sharing of evidence. The program is scheduled to end for Venezuelans on April 3, with migrants subject to deportation April 8, according to court records. A hearing is scheduled in federal court in Massachusetts for a Haitian case on April 1.
Jose Palma, co-coordinator of the national TPS Alliance, called Trump’s move to undermine the program “racist and inaccurate.”
“Haitian TPS holders, like all TPS holders, are lawfully present here pursuant to protection granted because it is not safe for them to return to their country right now,” Palma said in a statement.
Viles Dorsainvil, a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits from Springfield, Ohio, said the Haitian community “faced unrelenting stigmatization by government officials.“
“Stripping us of our legal status is the latest attack on Haitians, and one that cannot be allowed,” said Dorsainvil, the founding director of Haitian Community Help & Support Center.
The revocation of the status is part of President Donald Trump’s strict immigration policies. He also aims for mass deportations of people who entered the country without legal authorization. And he is specifically targeting members of Venezuelan members of the crime gang Tren de Aragua, which he labeled a foreign terrorist organization.
Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to secure the borders, including by terminating the program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV).
Noem said in a statement slated for publication in the Federal Register the program was supposed to relieve pressure of illegal entries along the southern border but failed.
“Upon review, DHS concludes that this ‘deterrent’ and ‘incentive’ approach did not result in a sufficient and sustained improvement in border security, and has exacerbated challenges associated with interior enforcement of the immigration laws,” Noem said.
“In addition, the CHNV parole programs have at best traded an unmanageable population of unlawful migration along the southwest border for the additional complication of a substantial population of aliens in the interior of the United States without a clear path to a durable status,” Noem said.
Noem’s filing criticized the burden of immigrants paroled into local communities. Parole is when migrants are allowed into the country under a program like Temporary Protected Status or when applying for asylum.
The parolees who were less than 18 years old were eligible for food stamps and Medicaid health care.
“CHNV parolees and other recent arrivals have competed for limited resources such as housing, food, transportation, education, legal services, and public benefits,” Noem said.
