Caribbean immigration advocates on Thursday strongly condemned President Donald J. Trump’s termination of a parole program for Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans.
The Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) mentioned on Thursday that it has begun sending termination notices to over 530,000 of these nationals who had been paroled into the US underneath a Biden-era parole program generally known as CHNV.
The San Diego, CA-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) mentioned the termination letters go to tens of 1000’s of Haitian households “who arrived lawfully underneath this system, constructed lives, contributed to their communities, and relied on its stability.
“As a substitute of providing compassion and continued alternative, DHS has chosen cruelty—revoking authorized standing, stripping employment authorization, and pushing folks to self-deport through an app, with the hole promise of a US$1,000 incentive,” HBA Government Director Guerline Jozef instructed Caribbean Life.
“This isn’t coverage — it’s punishment,” she added. “It’s a calculated transfer by DHS underneath Secretary Kristi Noem to dismantle lawful pathways that served each humanitarian and strategic functions.”
Jozef mentioned the CHNV parole program helped to scale back irregular migration whereas supporting financial integration, particularly for communities fleeing violence, political instability, and pure disasters.
“Now, these similar communities are being compelled into chaos with no individualized evaluate, no authorized recourse, and no due course of,” she mentioned. “Over 530,000 folks — together with 1000’s of Haitians — constructed lives right here and contributed to our economic system underneath lawful parole. Now, DHS is tearing these lives aside, forcing households into chaos and pushing susceptible folks to self-deport whereas importing White South Africans underneath the guise of a genocide that has not been corroborated by no worldwide physique or human rights teams.
“We urge Congress to move a complete immigration invoice to legalize these of us,” continued Jozef, calling for a direct halt to “all termination and deportation notices till truthful, case-by-case critiques are performed.
“We demand the restoration of parole and work authorization for these impacted, a full racial fairness evaluate of DHS enforcement practices, and sturdy congressional oversight to make sure this by no means occurs once more,” she mentioned. “Households shouldn’t be torn aside by a coverage that provides no pathway ahead—solely concern, confusion and exile.”
For the reason that assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, Jozef mentioned the French-speaking Caribbean nation has “spiraled into one of many gravest humanitarian crises in its fashionable historical past.”
She mentioned the political vacuum left in Moïse’s absence has “empowered violent gangs to consolidate energy throughout the nation.”
As we speak, Jozef mentioned about 85 % of Port-au-Prince, the capital, is underneath the de facto management of closely armed teams “who function with near-total impunity.”
Pointing to United Nations knowledge, she mentioned gang violence had displaced greater than 1.3 million folks in Haiti, led to just about 5,600 deaths since 2024, and subjected numerous civilians to rape, torture, kidnappings, and extrajudicial killings.
“The US has acknowledged the gravity of the disaster and has designated Haiti as a Degree 4, Do Not Journey nation for Americans,” Jozef mentioned.
Given the termination discover for Haitians within the UN, she mentioned HBA “will proceed to arrange, litigate and converse reality to energy.
“No app, no discover, no political determination ought to override fundamental human rights and dignity,” Jozef mentioned. “Haitian Bridge Alliance stands in unwavering solidarity with all CHNV parolees and can battle tirelessly to make sure justice is just not solely promised—however delivered.”
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella coverage and advocacy group that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights teams all through New York State, mentioned that “Trump is selecting to make a whole lot of 1000’s of individuals undocumented.
“The choice to remove standing from individuals who entered the USA in the way in which they had been directed to by the federal authorities is brutal to households, reckless to America’s political stability, and dangerous to our communities,” he instructed Caribbean Life.
“The abrupt termination of lawful standing will destabilize households, take away folks’s livelihoods, and pressure 1000’s of immigrant New Yorkers into authorized limbo,” he added. “Now, with no clear path ahead, immigrant households are being ordered to depart the one secure house they’ve discovered and the roots they began to construct.
“By stripping immigrants of their authorized standing, the Trump administration’s immigration insurance policies proceed to wreak havoc and chaos inside immigrant communities and systematically enhance the variety of undocumented folks–which won’t make our communities safer,” Awawdeh continued.
“We name on the federal authorities to rescind this motion, and we name on Congress to create everlasting authorized pathways to guard our immigrant households,” he urged.
DHS claimed on Thursday that the CHNV Parole Program for Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans was “abused by the earlier administration to confess a whole lot of 1000’s of poorly vetted unlawful aliens into the USA.”
DHS said that the termination notices to those immigrants knowledgeable them that “each their parole is terminated, and their parole-based employment authorization is revoked – efficient instantly.
“These notices will likely be despatched to the e-mail addresses offered by the parolees,” it mentioned.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed that “the Biden administration lied to America.
“They allowed greater than half 1,000,000 poorly vetted aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and their quick members of the family to enter the USA by way of these disastrous parole applications; granted them alternatives to compete for American jobs and undercut American staff; compelled profession civil servants to advertise the applications even when fraud was recognized; after which blamed Republicans in Congress for the chaos that ensued and the crime that adopted,” she mentioned.
“Ending the CHNV parole applications, in addition to the paroles of those that exploited it, will likely be a essential return to commonsense insurance policies, a return to public security, and a return to America First,” McLaughlin added.
DHS mentioned that beginning in 2022, the Biden administration “launched over 500,000 poorly vetted aliens into the US. underneath the CHNV parole program.
“President Trump canceled this program, and the Supreme Courtroom upheld this cancellation on Could 30, 2025,” it mentioned. “DHS is now notifying parole recipients that in the event that they haven’t obtained lawful standing to stay within the US, they have to go away instantly.
“DHS encourages any unlawful alien residing within the US to self-deport with the CBP Residence Cellular App,” the assertion added. “In the event that they achieve this, they may obtain journey help and a $1,000 exit bonus upon arrival of their house nation.”
