Even by 2025 standards, the pace of immigration news over the past month has been dizzying.
Unfortunately, many of these changes have a common theme: the revocation of legal status for immigrants who had used lawful pathways or channels to arrive or remain in the country.
Through court rulings and new policy decisions from the administration, hundreds of thousands of immigrants have suddenly seen their statuses erased or invalidated. With the stroke of a pen, the federal government, backed by the Supreme Court, has transformed many lawfully present immigrant populations into unauthorized residents—putting them at immediate risk for detention and deportation.
Termination of CHNV Parole Program
On June 12, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was sending notices of parole termination to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
More than 500,000 immigrants from these four countries, abbreviated “CHNV,” arrived through a legal channel by applying for travel authorization with the government. They were granted parole, which is temporary legal permission to enter and stay in the United States—used for decades on a case-by-case basis for those affected by humanitarian emergencies.
Now, parole granted through this Biden Administration program is being summarily cancelled across the population without regard to any individual circumstance or remaining duration of parole.
Despite legal challenges, on May 30, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the government to terminate CHNV parole en masse. The SCOTUS ruling lifted a lower court order that prevented the termination from taking effect.
This single decision strips protections from deportation and access to work permits from more than half a million people—what the organizations suing the federal government over the termination called “the largest such de-legalization in the modern era.”
Indeed, with this single decision, more than half a million people are poised to lose protection from deportation and access to work permits if they have not gained or sought another immigration status.
Ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
Temporary Protected Status provides a lawful status and access to work authorization for foreign nationals whose countries are experiencing conflict, disasters, or other extreme conditions that prevent safe return.
To be clear, TPS is not a pathway to the United States, since an applicant must already be in the country to qualify. But just like parole program arrivals, TPS beneficiaries gain their status by submitting applications to the federal government, which then may grant the status.
A Supreme Court ruling on May 19 allowed the federal government to move forward with ending a TPS designation for Venezuela. In only two paragraphs, the ruling effectively stripped more than 350,000 Venezuelans of temporary status and any associated work authorization.
DHS announced in early June it would end also TPS for Cameroon and Nepal. Under those decisions, thousands of Cameroonians and Nepalis will lose the protections of TPS in early August.
Thousands of Afghan allies, too, are losing their status. DHS announced in mid-May that the TPS designation for Afghanistan is being terminated in July. This decision, however, drew widespread, bipartisan condemnation due to its selective interpretation of economic and security conditions in Afghanistan—ignoring egregious patterns of gender apartheid, religious persecution, and political repression at the hands of the Taliban.
In fact, the administration claimed that returning Afghans to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan would “not pose a threat to their personal safety.” Several weeks later, however, Afghanistan was included in the Administration’s travel ban because it recognized the Taliban as a terrorist organization that does not serve as a competent state authority—a contradiction that Afghan-American groups quickly recognized.
What does the ending of TPS and CHNV mean?
These policy choices advance neither the United States’ interests nor our values.
The changes are not only profoundly destabilizing to hundreds of thousands of newcomers who came to the United States lawfully, but to the employers, sponsors, and communities that welcomed and supported them.
They also represent a significant departure from the United States’ welcoming spirit.
As we celebrate World Refugee Day and Immigrant Heritage Month in June, we must show both our solidarity with refugees worldwide and support for the U.S. refugee admissions program and recognize the countless individuals and families in the United States who sought lawful protection and now live in fear and limbo.
Join our advocacy in defense of U.S. protections and pathways today.
