New York, NY—Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began issuing termination notices to individuals under the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) parole program, revoking their work authorization and parole status effective immediately. Individuals under the program who haven’t secured another legal pathway to immigration status were directed to leave the country immediately. The parole program allowed over an estimated 500,000 individuals from the four countries to enter and live in the United States while they await their immigration proceedings.
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition:
“Donald Trump is choosing to make hundreds of thousands of people undocumented. The decision to take away status from people who entered the United States in the way they were directed to by the federal government is brutal to families, reckless to America’s political stability, and harmful to our communities. The abrupt termination of lawful status will destabilize families, take away people’s livelihoods, and force thousands of immigrant New Yorkers into legal limbo. Now, with no clear path forward, immigrant families are being ordered to leave the only safe home they have found and the roots they started to build. By stripping immigrants of their legal status, the Trump Administration’s immigration policies continue to wreak havoc and chaos within immigrant communities and systematically increase the number of undocumented people–which will not make our communities safer. We call on the federal government to rescind this action and we call on Congress to create permanent legal pathways to protect our immigrant families.”