US revokes legal status of more than half a million immigrants

The move, which took effect on April 24, cuts short the two-year “temporary parole” period granted to migrants under former President Joe Biden.

The Trump administration has taken steps to strengthen immigration enforcement since taking office, including pushing to deport record numbers of immigrants entering the United States illegally.

He has argued that temporary amnesty programs for people entering the US illegally introduced under former President Joe Biden exceeded the boundaries of federal law, and called for an end to them in a January 20 executive order.

Illustration: Unsplash

Mr Trump said on March 6 that he would decide “very soon” whether to revoke amnesty status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the United States during the conflict with Russia.

Mr. Biden launched a conditional entry program for Venezuelans in 2022 and expanded it to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans in 2023 amid high levels of illegal immigration from those nationalities.

In a notice expected to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said revoking the amnesty would make it easier to put migrants through a rapid removal process known as “expedited removal.”

Under a Trump-era policy implemented in January, expedited deportation can be applied to certain migrants who have been in the United States for two years or less.

The administration’s decision to strip the legal status of half a million immigrants could put many at risk of deportation. It’s unclear how many people who entered the United States under amnesty now have some form of protection or other legal status.

Hoang Huy (according to WH, Reuters, Guardian)