The United States announced on Friday that it will terminate the legal status of over half a million immigrants, giving them weeks to leave the country. This move is part of President Donald Trump’s larger efforts to reduce immigration, especially from Latin American nations.
The decision affects approximately 532,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. These individuals entered the US under a program introduced in October 2022 by President Biden, which was expanded in January 2023. The Department of Homeland Security’s order, set to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, will revoke their legal protections 30 days after its release.
Under the new directive, immigrants under this program must leave the United States by April 24 unless they obtain a new immigration status. Welcome.US, an organization assisting refugees, advises those impacted to consult with immigration attorneys immediately.
The program, which allowed up to 30,000 migrants per month from the four nations, was promoted as a “safe and humane” solution to the US-Mexico border crisis. However, the Department of Homeland Security reminded that the program was always intended as temporary.
In a related development, Trump recently invoked wartime legislation to deport over 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, where they could be detained under less stringent terms.
