The new policy impacts people who are already in the U.S. and who came under the humanitarian parole program. Many Haitian immigrants in Springfield entered the U.S. through the program, though it is unclear how many do not have another form of legal status like Temporary Protected Status or asylum.
Katie Kersh, senior legal attorney for Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, previously told the News-Sun that there are a number of Haitian immigrants in Springfield without TPS.
“There are still a lot of people in Springfield who do not have TPS yet; there are people who are not eligible for TPS because they entered after June 3, 2024, and there are people who have pending TPS applications, so they have not actually gotten the decision on their case,” Kersh said.
Springfield is estimated to have between 12,000 and 15,000 Haitian immigrants.
The new policy follows an earlier Trump administration decision to end what it called the “broad abuse” of the humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where there’s war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the U.S.
During his campaign, President Donald Trump promised to deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally, and as president he has been also ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the U.S. and to stay.
Springfield advocates have denounced this practice, saying that creating immigrants living in the country illegally does not make sense if the goal is to reduce illegal immigration, and could impact area businesses who would lose a portion of their workers.
DHS said parolees without a lawful basis to stay in the U.S. “must depart” before their parole termination date.
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status,” DHS said.
Before the new order, the beneficiaries of the program could stay in the U.S. until their parole expires, although the administration had stopped processing their applications for asylum, visas and other requests that might allow them to remain longer.
ABLE has encouraged immigrants to continue applying for asylum, work permits and visas despite the pause in processing.
The administration decision has already been challenged in federal courts.
A group of American citizens and immigrants sued the Trump administration for ending humanitarian parole and are seeking to reinstate the programs for the four nationalities.
Lawyers and activists raised their voices to denounce the government’s decision.
Friday’s action is “going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country,” said Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit at the end of February. She called it “reckless, cruel and counterproductive.”
The Biden administration allowed up to 30,000 people a month from the four countries to come to the United States for two years with eligibility to work. It persuaded Mexico to take back the same number from those countries because the U.S. could deport few, if any, to their homes.
Cuba generally accepted about one deportation flight a month, while Venezuela and Nicaragua refused to take any. All three are U.S. adversaries.
Haiti accepted many deportation flights, especially after a surge of migrants from the Caribbean country in the small border town of Del Rio, Texas, in 2021. But Haiti has been in constant turmoil, hampering U.S. efforts.
Since late 2022, more than half a million people have come to the U.S. under the policy, also known as CHNV. It was a part of the Biden administration’s approach to encourage people to come through new legal channels while cracking down on those who crossed the border illegally.
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AP editor Elliot Spagat and writer Tim Sullivan contributed to this report.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP