Humanitarian Protections Revoked for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 12, 2025

Contact: Timothy Young | timothy.young@globalrefuge.org

Baltimore, M.D. — Global Refuge expressed deep concern over the Trump administration’s decision today to revoke humanitarian parole protections for more than half a million individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who lawfully entered the United States under the CHNV parole program. Notices to be sent to beneficiaries will inform them that both their parole protections and their employment authorization is revoked effective immediately, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Created under the Biden administration to reduce irregular border crossings and offer a legal, vetted pathway for people fleeing political instability and humanitarian crises, the CHNV parole program enabled over 530,000 people to seek safety and stability in the U.S. with the support of U.S.-based sponsors.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at dismantling the program, triggering legal challenges. A subsequent Supreme Court ruling permitted the administration to revoke protections for those covered under the parole program as litigation continues in lower courts.

“Rescinding legal protections from hundreds of thousands of people who entered this country through proper channels is a deeply destabilizing decision, not just for the families affected, but also for their loved ones and the communities that have welcomed them,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refuge. “These are people who played by the rules. With U.S.-based sponsors initiating their applications, they passed security screenings, paid for their own travel, obtained work authorization, and have begun rebuilding their lives. Tearing up that social contract overnight does nothing to advance our national security or humanitarian leadership.”

Many CHNV parolees are now employed in critical sectors of the U.S. economy, from construction to elder care, helping to fill labor shortages in both rural and urban areas. With parole protections terminated, many face job loss, housing instability, and disruption of educational opportunities for their children. The mass termination also jeopardizes family unity as thousands of U.S.-based sponsors, including faith communities and cherished family members, now find themselves unable to protect the loved ones they committed to support.

“Revoking parole en masse doesn’t just hurt the individuals who are directly affected. It’s a moral injury to the American families, churches, and civic institutions who stepped up to sponsor them,” Vignarajah continued. “Instead of rewarding responsible migration through orderly legal pathways, this action punishes those who jumped through every hoop asked of them.”

Global Refuge remains committed to supporting all immigrants and refugees who have come to the U.S. through lawful means, and to standing with the communities that have embraced them.

“These individuals are not just numbers on a spreadsheet,” concluded Vignarajah. “They are parents, workers, students, and neighbors. And they deserve better than to be suddenly ‘de-documented’ and forced back to incredibly dangerous conditions overnight.”

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