USA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Helena M. Tetzeli, Edward Ramos and John Pratt, Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli and Pratt
Employment-Based US Immigration Options for Humanitarian Parolees and TPS Recipients Affected by the Trump Administration’s Recent Actions President Trump’s inauguration has brought a barrage of immigration changes, almost all of which impede non-citizens’ ability to remain in the USA lawfully. In this article, we describe one of these set of changes: Trump’s executive orders and agency policy changes affecting non- citizens paroled into the United States under President Biden’s various parole programmes, those granted temporary protected status (TPS) and what immigration options may be available for them to legally remain in the United States, with a special focus on employment-based options. The Biden parole programmes One of the most effective immigration pro - grammes implemented by the Biden adminis - tration was its use of parole authority to support humanitarian objectives and to channel the flow of migrants via the southern border. Parole is a legal fiction based on statutory provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act (the “INA” ) under which non-citizens are permitted to physi - cally enter the United States and have a lawful status without being formally admitted. While parole can be granted on an ad hoc basis, the Biden administration used this legal tool on a more categorical basis to allow non-citizens from certain countries to enter the United States in an orderly manner. These Biden parole pro - grammes included: • the CHNV programme for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, whose coun - tries have been ravaged by natural disasters and political strife;
• the Uniting for Ukraine Programme for Ukrain - ians displaced by the war with Russia; and • Operation Allies Welcome for Afghans fleeing the Taliban. While all had unique features, the basic pro - cess was the same. The non-citizen applicants were screened ahead of time, granted advance permission to travel to the United States and paroled into the United States at a port of entry. With the exception of Cuba and Nicaragua, the Biden administration also designated or redes - ignated (in the case of Haiti) TPS to the nation - als of these countries. This is a temporary form of immigration protection that provides nation - als with refuge in the United States when they cannot safely return on account of extraordinary temporary conditions. President Trump’s reversal of protections In the last two months, the Trump administration has taken several actions to reverse these poli - cies and protections. Firstly, the administration has stopped processing any new paroles pur - suant to these programmes, effectively shutting down the parole programmes for any new appli - cants. Secondly, the administration has stopped processing any applications for re-parole filed by individuals already present in the United States pursuant to these programmes. Third, the administration has instituted an indefi - nite freeze on the adjudication of any immigra - tion benefit application filed by any individual present in the United States pursuant to the Biden parole programmes. Fourth, the adminis - tration has moved to end TPS for nationals from Haiti and Venezuela. While there is ongoing liti - gation challenging all of these reversals, and at least one court at time of this writing (April 2025) has temporarily stayed reversal of TPS redes -
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