USCIS
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The Trump administration has enacted an indefinite pause on immigration applications from migrants in Latin America and Ukraine that were previously facilitated through specific Biden-era programs.
This directive, backed by two US officials and an internal memo obtained by CBS News, attributes the decision to concerns over fraud and security. The abrupt suspension leaves many migrants uncertain about their immigration status, as applications for various benefits that would permit legal residency in the US are now stalled. This focus on immigration policy follows the Trump administration’s quick response to halt several initiatives started during President Biden’s tenure, which aimed to allow the entry of hundreds of thousands of migrants on humanitarian grounds through a provision in immigration law known as parole.
The Biden administration had emphasized the use of parole to encourage migrants to seek legal pathways rather than resorting to unlawful crossings of the southern border. However, the current administration argues that previous programs under Biden misused the authority granted by parole.
In a memo dated February 14, Andrew Davidson, a senior official at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), announced an "administrative pause" on all pending benefit requests for those admitted under three specific Biden-era initiatives.
Notably, the "Uniting for Ukraine" program, which has allowed about 240,000 Ukrainians, sponsored by American citizens, to enter the US amid the ongoing Russian invasion, is among the suspended programs. Another affected program, known as CHNV, permitted the entry of approximately 530,000 individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The third program provided a pathway for select migrants from Colombia, Ecuador, Central America, Haiti, and Cuba to wait for family-based green card processing.
Many migrants, having obtained temporary work permits and protection from deportation for two years, had been in the process of seeking additional immigration benefits, such as Temporary Protected Status, asylum, or permanent resident status. Under the new USCIS directive, those who entered the US through the targeted Biden-era policies will have their applications for these benefits effectively stalled. According to Lynden Melded, a former USCIS attorney now with Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP, this pause significantly hinders migrants' abilities to transition to other legal statuses.
During this interim, they remain vulnerable to removal if the government acts to terminate their parole status. The USCIS memo cites challenges in the agency's capacity to identify fraud and security risks as the rationale for the suspension. Davidson notes that investigations had revealed instances of fraud in CHNV applications, involving cases like "serial sponsors," deceased individuals, or identical addresses, suggesting that some participants had not undergone thorough vetting.
The memo indicates that the pause could be lifted following a comprehensive review of those admitted under these programs. However, representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have not commented on the situation. Moreover, the Trump administration has pursued additional measures against migrants admitted through Biden-era parole initiatives. Recently, federal immigration agents were given the authority to expedite the deportation of individuals from the CHNV program while plans are underway to revoke the parole status of a significant number of those admitted through similar programs.