Approximately 400,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans allowed to enter the United States under Biden administration [CHVN] Multiple experts told the Post that the parole program will most likely keep them in the U.S. indefinitely.
The program first launched in October 2022 for Venezuelans and expanded in November 2023, with 30,000 migrants per month for up to two years “for urgent humanitarian reasons or in the vital public interest.” Now able to enter the United States.
By the end of February, 400,000 immigrants had taken advantage of the program, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security.
Immigration experts say it is unlikely that the large influx of migrants, amounting to 1,000 people per day, will return home at the end of their two-year parole period.
“They’re overwhelming the system. [which] These people will probably end up here forever,” Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director, told the Post.
Parolees have three options. DHS can extend your parole period, hire an attorney to establish legal residency, or remain in the U.S. illegally.
Homan said the Biden administration is unlikely to go after parolees who have simply been in the U.S. for more than two years.
“ICE isn’t looking for fugitives who haven’t committed a crime; they’re not,” Homan said.
But under the second Trump administration, immigrants who remain in the U.S. illegally are much more likely to be “subject to deportation,” Homan said.
Former ICE Field Director John Fabricatore said that if parolees in the program are not removed by the Biden administration, many will likely overstay and “be added to the non-custodial ICE docket” and will not be placed on the list. He acknowledged to the Post that it is a possibility, but it is not being actively pursued.
Fabricatore claimed the document currently has “approximately 7 million cases that ICE is already monitoring.”
The parole process is meant to be used by people with “urgent humanitarian reasons,” but Fabricatore claims it is being unfairly used as an “immigration status.”
Clay Thomas, a former deputy patrol detective in charge of the El Paso Police Department, added that he expects his parole period to be extended automatically because it is the easiest option.
“They’re not going to have people tracked, so they just extend that two-year period across the board with the click of a button,” Thomas told the Post, adding that it’s “almost impossible” to find. “Volume” was given to tens of thousands of people, [of people] and the lack of tracking of “immigrants”.
Immigrants on parole have a variety of legal options to legally extend their stay.
For example, the Cuban Adjustment Act will allow Cubans to apply for permanent residency (commonly known as a green card) after one year in the U.S., said Miami-based immigration attorney María Herrera Mellado. .
All parolees arriving through the program can apply for visas or asylum, and some can apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which provides temporary protection from deportation based on issues in their home country.
Mellado said most commonly Venezuelan, Haitian and Nicaraguan parolees arrive through parole programs and often apply for asylum while in the United States.
A subpoena from the House Homeland Security Committee recently forced DHS to release data on the CHVN program, revealing that most immigrants paroled into the United States land in Florida.
Approximately 80% of parolees who arrived between January and August 2023 moved to Miami, Fort Martin. Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa Bay, according to the data.
Mellado said his Cuban and Venezuelan clients who entered Miami through the parole program are staying in the area to reunite with their families.
“This is their final destination,” Merad said.
Meanwhile, there is a long line of immigrants hoping to be admitted to the program, with 1.6 million applications awaiting approval, DHS said.
