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From his first day in office, it has been revealed that part of the immigration agenda will be stripped of legal protections from those who are now qualified and will be deported as “illegal immigrants.” I’ve done it. In his first few weeks, the administration made some opening moves in its efforts, but kept the door open to future actions. The outcome was confusion and terrifying as the community (and lawyers) tried to understand what the current policy is and when other shoes would fall.
The confusion is particularly severe when it comes to immigration in Venezuela. Because many of them may be affected or may be affected by actions that the administration has already taken or been threatened. The administration declared that Venezuelans, who gained temporary protected status in 2023, will lose it in April 2025, and those who received it in 2021 may lose it later this year I declared.
Meanwhile, Venezuelans and others who have arrived under the Biden-era CHNV parole program remain within range. The new application is not accepted and the Trump administration may be planning to revoke existing parole grants, but how this will happen and when will it be unclear.
This is what we know.
Venezuela TPS: Up to 350,000 people will lose protection in April, and another 243,000 could lose them in September
Venezuelans with TPS were categorized into two groups that were here in 2021 when President Biden first designated a TPS country, and applied after being redesignated to TPS in 2023.
In his final weeks of his appointment, Biden announced that TPS for both groups would be extended until fall 2026. However, the Trump administration acted swiftly to reverse these decisions. As a result, they returned to their original timeline. Unless the 2023 TPS designation is extended, it is set to expire in April this year, and the 2021 designation is scheduled to expire (or be extended) in September.
Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem has already announced that the 2023 designation will not be extended. That is, these Venezuelans lost their legal protection as of April 7th, and work permits are associated with them. Under this decision, people may lose their legal status. (The notification is inconsistent with itself, and we refer to both the estimated number of people estimated to be eligible for TPS and the number of people currently registered in 2023 as 348,000. If you are simply a qualified population, then you should be able to get the actual number of people you have. There are likely few people who have TPS on
DHS has yet to announce a decision on whether to extend the 2021 designation before the beneficiaries (an estimated 243,000 as of 2023) on September 10th lose their work permits and legal status. 60 days before the expiration date.
CHNV Parole: New grants are also very vague future
The administration has pledged to launch parole programs for immigrants in Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela under the Biden administration. Shortly after taking office, the CHNV program halted acceptance of new applications for two-year parole grants. However, hundreds of thousands of people who have been issued parole grants under Biden are now living legally in the United States.
A January memo from Benjamin Huffman said that if ICE agents encounter “appropriate” removal (meaning that they were in the US for less than two years), they will have parole. Anyway.
“This may include steps to terminate your aggressive parole status,” the memo says, but what those steps are and ICE is subject to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It was not the case that the issued parole grant could be terminated without agency participation. It was spelled out.
As the parole grant under the CHNV was only valid for two years and no renewal was permitted, the paragraph (the ambiguous status quo) describes all current CHNV beneficiaries.
To further confuse the issue, the report shows that the Trump administration is attempting to strip all CHNV beneficiaries of current parole grants. The law requires the government to notify individuals when parole is finished, and how the administration will do so remains unclear. Note that for example, everyone has received a message whether it sends individual notices of termination to the beneficiary, or whether it issues, for example a federal register.
Additionally, it has been several weeks since our initial report on this intended movement. It was supposed to be imminent, but as of February 14th, no action had been taken.
All this makes it very difficult for people with CHNV parole, their loved ones and employers to know what the future holds. For example, an employer who does not closely follow the federal register may not know that the employee has lost his permission to work for several weeks after the change. It is also completely unclear what to do if a person with CHNV parole encounters an ice agent in the community.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of people are in Limbo. According to the latest DHS statistics (from November), a total of 36,130 Cubans have been included who have won CHNV parole grants since January 2024. (People who entered before January are eligible to apply for a green card under the Cuban adjustment laws.) 33,960 Haitians were redesignated to TPS in May 2024, with 62,240 Venezuela. He arrived on CHNV parole when he entered the country after redesignating the 2023 TPS. 92,870 Nicaraguans have been recognized by CHNV over the past two years.
For now, it can be said that people with temporary protected status will definitely have legal protection and work permits as long as the current TPS grants continue. The Venezuelans who first registered with TPS under the 2023 designation know they will lose their protection in April. This means that if they have not applied for another form of legal status, they risk being deported.
And for now, people with CHNV parole know that they are legally entitled to live and work in the United States, unless something else happens. However, that final guarantee can only be provided daily.
Submitted below: CHNV, TPS
