The Government of the United States (USA) will not allow migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela who entered the country with a program known as “humanitarian parole” to extend the immigration benefit for more than two years, officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to US media.
More than half a million people of these four nationalities have entered the country under the program, which began in October 2022 for Venezuelans and was extended to the other three nationalities in February 2023.
The decision, announced less than a month before the November 5 elections, comes amid a shower of criticism of that plan from the Republicans and their presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who also assured that, being elected, would end the benefit.
The parole, for which it is necessary to have a sponsor in the US, grants beneficiaries permission to enter and work legally in the country for a period of two years.
At the end of this period, people in this program who have not applied for another immigration benefit “must leave the United States before the authorized period expires (…) or they will be placed in deportation proceedings,” explained Naree Ketudat, spokesperson for the Department. of Homeland Security (DHS).
The Government of Joe Bien launched this program as part of its strategy to stop migration to the US, while at the same time it began to impose restrictions on asylum on the border with Mexico.
The administration has also used the figure of parole, allowing the entry of people from Afghanistan and Ukraine. However, unlike the program for Latin Americans, these other two nationalities were allowed to extend their status.
Some 110 thousand Cubans, 210 thousand Haitians, 93 thousand Nicaraguans and 117 thousand Venezuelans have entered the United States under this program, according to the latest data provided by the DHS.
