Haiti Libre January 26, 2025
In the memo, Secretary Huffman directs officials to begin the process of phasing out Biden Administration policies that have allowed, through the Humanitarian Parole program, more than 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (including 211,040 Haitians, November 2024) who had sponsors in the country willing to help them financially if needed, to legally enter the United States and stay temporarily for up to 2 years while being eligible for a work permit for the duration of their stay.
Trump maintains that the Biden administration has used this program inappropriately and considers the migrants who benefited from it to be illegal.
The second directive from the Trump administration concerns the expedited deportation process that allows migrants to be expelled without allowing them to see an immigration judge. This is a process that is already in place but limited to areas within 100 miles of the U.S. land border for migrants who have been in the U.S. for less than two weeks.
The Trump administration has now expanded expedited deportation nationwide and made it applicable to migrants who cannot prove they have been in the United States for more than two years. A decision that has already been challenged in federal court by immigrant advocates.
The memo states that those who are not eligible for expedited deportation because they have been in the United States for more than two years are also at risk of being targeted for deportation.