The acting head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is allowing immigration enforcement agents to swiftly deport those who came to the U.S. under multiple pathways established under the Biden administration.
An internal DHS memo this week obtained by The Hill puts at risk nearly 1.5 million migrants who came to the U.S. under parole programs that allowed their entry on a temporary basis if they could secure a financial sponsor.
The Biden administration used the programs widely, opening the option to those seeking to flee Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela amid unrest in an effort to deter them from illegally crossing the border.
Similar parole programs were also used for Afghan evacuees as well as those fleeing Ukraine following the invasion by Russia, allowing them to work in the country for two years.
The late Thursday order was first reported by The New York Times.
The order comes after acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman also vastly expanded immigration agents’ ability to use expedited removal proceedings, allowing migrants to be quickly removed with little review.
While expedited removals were previously only allowed within 100 miles of the border for those who entered the country within two weeks, the process may now be used nationwide and for those who cannot prove they’ve been in the U.S. for more than two years.
The pair of directives are the latest effort under President Trump to go after temporary statuses used by the Biden administration.
While the parole programs only allowed recipients to remain in the country for two years, the Trump administration has argued they were an abuse of the law, a dramatic expansion of a program designed to waive immigration requirements only on a case-by-case basis.
Immigration advocates were particularly alarmed by the focus on those already in the country who received the status due to unstable conditions in their home country.
“It’s one thing to shut down a pathway going forward, but it’s worrisome to focus enforcement efforts on people who are here because they followed an orderly legal process,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the president and CEO of Global Refuge, which helps resettle refugees.
“These are families who have U.S.-based sponsors who came forward to petition on their behalf. These are families who risk being returned to dire circumstances in deeply destabilized countries like Haiti and Venezuela.”
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