The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Friday it will terminate the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole programs, ending a key immigration pathway that will affect more than half a million people.

The advance notice circulated on Friday explained that “neither urgent humanitarian reasons nor significant public benefit warrants the continued presence of aliens paroled under the CHNV programs,” underscoring that the agency found the programs no longer align with current US immigration policy or national security goals. The 532,000 parolees affected by this new directive will only have 30 days from the date of publication before their legal status is terminated and subject to removal.

DHS cited several reasons for ending the programs, beginning with the argument that the program has “exacerbated challenges associated with interior enforcement of the immigration laws” once parolees settle in the US. The agency reported that while there may have been fewer crossings between official ports of entry, there was a significant rise in encounters at ports themselves. The underlying problem of high migration numbers merely shifted location, DHS argued.

Friday’s notice also pointed to mounting immigration court backlogs, with cases already in the millions, and suggested that renewing or continuing the parole programs would add even more pressure to the system. President Donald Trump’s administration has sharply pivoted US policy away from negotiating broad-based migration pathways with neighboring countries. Instead, it has pushed to tighten border enforcement, resume the Migrant Protection Protocols (commonly known as “Remain in Mexico”), and leverage diplomatic channels to remove or repatriate migrants who cannot legally stay in the US.

The CHNV programs, which were first introduced under the administration of former President Joe Biden in late 2022 and expanded in January 2023, were hailed by supporters at the time as a targeted way to address large migration flows from countries experiencing significant political upheaval, economic crises, or both. The central idea was to allow certain Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, along with their immediate family members, to be vetted in advance while still abroad. If deemed eligible, they could fly into US airports where Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers made the ultimate decision on granting them “parole,” typically for up to two years. Texas and 20 other states sued the Biden administration, arguing that the program is forcing them to spend millions on health care, education, and public safety for the migrants. A federal judge, however, upheld the program in March 2024 for lack of the plaintiffs’ standing.

Critics contend that a single month’s notice is too short and will upend families who relied on these parole designations, particularly since there was never any guarantee of a permanent path to residency.

Justice Action Center Director Karen Tumlin stated: “Suddenly revoking the lawful status of hundreds of thousands of CHNV humanitarian parole recipients is going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country. The Administration’s targeting of this successful and popular process—one of the last remaining safe and lawful pathways—is reckless, cruel and counterproductive.”

Under the rules, once parole ends, so does the parole-based work authorization. Employers who brought in new hires under these processes face the prospect of losing workers.

Friday’s move comes amid other Trump administration actions to tighten immigration policies, from canceling Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain groups to invoking the Alien Enemies Act to facilitate deportation. The administration has shifted its focus to tougher enforcement and expedited removals, with less reliance on “conditional” parole tools that allow people to remain on humanitarian or public-interest grounds.