MIAMI (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it will revoke legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, setting them up for potential deportation in about a month.
The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United States since October 2022. They arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24, or 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register.
The new policy impacts people who are already in the U.S. and who came under the humanitarian parole program. It 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.
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.
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.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak during a tour, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Kodiak, Alaska. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak during a tour, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Kodiak, Alaska. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Wall Street was sharply higher before the opening bell on Monday as last week's momentum spilled over into the new trading week.
Futures for the S&P 500 surged 1.1%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 0.9%. Nasdaq futures climbed 1.4%.
Investors turned their attention to corporate news while awaiting the latest developments on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have spurred major market swings in recent weeks.
Genetics testing company 23andme lost nearly half its value, tumbling 42% in premarket trading after it announced over the weekend that it had initiated voluntary bankruptcy proceedings. The struggling company laid off nearly half of its staff last fall and said it was winding down ongoing clinical trials while evaluating “strategic alternatives” for certain assets.
Shares in The AZEK Co. jumped 20% before the bell Monday after the building materials company announced it was being bought by Australia's James Hardie Industries in a cash-and-stock deal valued around $8.75 billion.
It's the second large deal in the sector in less than a week, with QXO Inc. announcing on Thursday that it was buying Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. in a deal worth about $11 billion, including debt.
On tariffs, reports suggested that President Trump may narrow his broad approach to focus on countries that run significant trade surpluses with the U.S., including many countries in Asia.
Markets have been tortured much of this year, swinging wildly at each new tariff announcement.
A trade war between the U.S. and its key trading partners threatens to worsen inflation and hurt both consumers and businesses, which have been warning investors about tariffs, inflation and growing uncertainty about the impact to costs.
Trump has set an April 2 deadline to impose more tariffs on trading partners. It follows a series of other deadlines that have been set for tariffs only to be postponed, sometimes at the last minute.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang struck a conciliatory tone during a meeting with business leaders and U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, who is the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump took office in January.
Relations between the countries “have come to an important juncture,” Li said. “Our two sides need to choose dialogue over confrontation, win-win cooperation over zero-sum competition,” he said, adding that China hoped that the U.S. would work together to promote the steady and sustainable development of the China-U.S. relations.
The meeting also involved the leaders of several American businesses, including FedEx Corp. CEO Raj Subramaniam, Boeing Co.’s senior vice president Brendan Nelson, Qualcomm’s CEO Cristiano Amon and Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla.
“In recent days, Trump administration officials have signaled that the list of affected countries may not be universal, and existing tariffs — such as those on steel — may not necessarily be cumulative,” Junrong Yeap of IG said in a commentary, adding that , “optimism has surfaced that Trump’s tariff plans may once again be more bark than bite.”
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.4% to 23,787.71, and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2% to 3,370.03.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 edged 0.2% lower to 37,608.49 after a preliminary report on manufacturing showed output falling at its fastest pace in a year, while new orders fell more quickly.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1%, closing at 7,936.90, while Korea's Kospi lost 0.4% to 2,632.07.
In Europe at midday, European markets were mostly higher. Britain’s FTSE100 was up less than 0.1% while the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.5%.
Germany’s DAX advanced 0.6% after the country’s business activity in private sectors hit a ten-month high, with a smaller-than-expected contraction in manufacturing.
People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A stock market trader watches his monitors on the trading floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa/dpa via AP)
The display board with the Dax curve in the trading hall of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa/dpa via AP)
A currency trader reacts near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
