CBP One

April 8, 2025 - The administration announced that the 985,000 people who entered with parole or travel authorization would be in irregular status, and their work permits would be cancelled. Afghan and Ukrainian nationals are excluded from this measure.

 The administration is informing individuals via e-mail and urging them to leave the country. The communication includes the possibility of fines and penalties for irregularly staying in the country.

 Analysis:

• The migration debate centers on irregularities of entry or stay. The CBP One application showed that safe, orderly, and regular migration is possible if avenues and procedures are created for it.
• The anti-migration discourse focuses on the unauthorized manner in which foreigners enter and stay. These 985,000 people followed a procedure, waited for months for an appointment through an application that had serious flaws, especially for dark-skinned people, and entered the country in a safe and orderly manner.
• The administration is creating a massive irregular immigration situation to deport them. All of these people entered in a regular manner, and many of them applied for work permits because that is what they came for, to earn an honest living in an economy that is in dire need of that labor force. The people who entered with the CBP One application are the definition of authorized migration. Now, this administration is stripping them of that status and threatening to deport them.
• Immigrants who arrived through CBP One and others have revitalized U.S. neighborhoods, including local economies, as well as society and culture.
• The administration argues that the application and parole were used illegally, but ironically, it punishes those who complied with the law. In other words, this administration's problem with migrants is not whether or not they have authorization to enter or work in the country. It is a persecution against foreigners. This contradicts the idea of the Nation under which this country was founded. This is not America.
• The Trump administration's problem with those who entered with the CBP One application is that they come from Latin America or the global south. Those are the migrant people that this administration does not want because they are contrary to their white supremacist agenda.
• The people who entered with the CBP One application are not a national security risk. These individuals underwent a vetting process that included biometrical and biographical screening. This argument cannot continue to be made against foreign nationals based on the color of their skin or their economic status.
• People do not self deport; people return forcibly.

 Termination of Humanitarian Parole

March 25

The Trump administration ended the humanitarian parole program for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela on March 25, 2025. It is estimated that about 532,000 people were authorized to enter under this program, which required them to find a sponsor in the country. 

The Department of Homeland Security announced that it would end the authorized stay for all these individuals on April 24, 2025. Those who entered with humanitarian parole and applied for asylum can remain in the country while their cases are processed.

‍Analysis:

• This authorized entry program for four countries acknowledged the political repression, violence and organized crime, and the economic and social situation in each. This was a humanitarian program for the regular and safe entry of persons needing temporary security or protection.
• The humanitarian parole created a humanitarian travel permit and is not an irregular migration program. It is estimated that about 75,000 people who entered under this program applied for asylum. The rest were eligible for TPS if they were Venezuelans or Haitians or sought other ways to adjust their status, such as the Cuban Adjustment Act.
• The government should have considered this program's humanitarian nature and given a more extended period for those who applied to seek other options in the U.S. or another country. 
• Returning to Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba or Nicaragua is not even possible for many of the people who took advantage of this program, not only because of the insecurity or lack of protection in which they would find themselves, but also because they cannot obtain travel documents, and because they were stripped of their nationality.

‍Analysis of the termination of immigration status and work permits for people who entered under parole or travel permits:

• U.S. foreign policy may change from one administration to the next, but it is illegal and inhumane to change the effects of those policies for people who availed themselves of them.  
• The decision to terminate the humanitarian parole program and parole through CBP One falls within the administration’s legal discretion—but it’s a morally and strategically poor policy choice.
• However, it is illegal and inhumane to abruptly terminate the regular immigration status of people who have applied for these entry permits or parole. These are individuals and families who complied with the law and are now falling into irregular immigration status for reasons beyond their control. This is an example of an unjustified and inhumane measure.

• The Trump administration is leaving people who had entered the country in an authorized manner and who had permits to work in an irregular situation. The Trump administration is creating immigration irregularity to benefit politically from it.
• The administration is threatening people who are left without status as a result of the government's actions with fines or imprisonment if they do not leave the country. These measures aim to increase the population that can be deported, taking advantage of the information these people voluntarily gave to the government unless they availed themselves of other forms of protection or relief.
• The Trump administration is cutting public programs and services that benefit the entire population and especially the most vulnerable to use them to deport people who were in the country in an authorized manner. This action only contributes to the white supremacist agenda and enriches the private prison corporations that provide ICE detention and deportation flights. 
• With these actions, all people in the United States lose. This is not an America First foreign policy, but a policy that neglects to address the real needs of its citizens and leaves humanity behind. This is persecution against foreigners, especially the most vulnerable. This does not make America great. It makes America small.
• None of the actions this administration is taking will address the root causes of forced migration. Human mobility, especially out of necessity, cannot be deterred with borders, walls, or inhumane policies. Lives will be lost.