The Department of Homeland Security says nationals from four countries that were once part of a Biden-era immigration program should self-deport.
A rule crafted by the Biden administration allowed a fixed monthly number of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to fly to the U.S. with the help of a sponsor. They could stay and work here for two years under what’s called humanitarian parole.
The Trump administration moved to end that program, and the Supreme Court sided with that decision earlier this month. The high court issued a ruling that overturned a lower court order pausing the program’s halt, and allowed the cancellation to move forward.
Now, DHS is telling hundreds of thousands of people who entered the U.S. under that process to self -deport.
“Many of the families that we are helping, yes they did have that parole, but now they’re in the asylum seeking process,” said Tucson aid worker Dora Rodriguez.
Rodriguez says her group Salvavision has helped several Venezuelan families in Tucson, many of whom are in the U.S. on another Biden-era program called CBP One — which had asylum seekers apply for a fixed number of daily appointments available at some border crossings and pursue an asylum claim in court.
She says many of those families are still awaiting court cases, and until then, they plan to remain in the U.S.
Still, the latest directive is causing more uncertainty.
“It’s so very confusing for these people, because first of all, you know, they’re not attorneys, they don’t know all these changes. All they know is that status has been canceled,” she said.
More than half a million people were able to enter the U.S. on the humanitarian parole program.
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Leadership clarified that non-members — including employees or residents, guests of tribal members, travelers on public roadways and vendors tied to the Tohono O’odham Gaming Enterprise — may still travel freely “without any restrictions.”
