Planned Trump deportations force immigrants to learn their rights
Puente Arizona teaches immigrants their rights in case they are questioned by ICE in response to the mass deportations planned by the Trump administration.
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 provided a haven in the U.S. for 532,000 immigrants under the Biden administration in 2022 and 2023, according to government figures.
“Let’s be clear: this is a war on poor, Black and Brown people who dared to seek safety,” Guerline Jozef, executive director of the advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance, said in a statement. “These families have followed the rules. Now they are being told they’re no longer welcome because Trump wants to rally his base with racist fear-mongering.”
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.
Trump ordered end of program on first day in office
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.
Migrant advocates call efforts to undermine migrant programs ‘racist’
The revocation of CHNV status comes as Haitians and Venezuelans are fighting the end of another program, called Temporary Protected Status with similar benefits providing legal status for migrants and work permits. Advocacy groups said an estimated 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians participate in the program.
At least three federal lawsuits are pending in an attempt to block the end of Temporary Protected Status.
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.
A hearing is scheduled Monday in federal court in northern California on a motion to speed up the sharing of evidence in a TPS case. 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.
Noem: CHNV migrants program burdened local communities
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 CHNV 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.
(This story has been updated to distinguish the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela immigration program from Temporary Protected Status.)
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