Trump Cancels Work Permits for Over Half a Million Migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The Department of Homeland Security revoked work and residence permissions for hundreds of thousands of migrants on Thursday, according to a CNN report.

A notice, sent by email to Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan nationals, demands that migrants vacate the country immediately, stating that failure to do so may result in involuntary detention.

“This notice informs you that your parole is now terminated,” a copy of the notice obtained by CNN reads. “If you do not leave, you may be subject to enforcement actions, including but not limited to detention and removal, without an opportunity to make personal arrangements and return to your country in an orderly manner.”

The termination of the Biden-era parole program that granted legal working status to an estimated 530,000 migrants from these four countries has long been a goal of the Trump Administration. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end the program on his first day in office – one of many steps taken to achieve the president’s campaign promise of “mass deportation.”

The Supreme Court eliminated the legal challenges that followed that legislation in an unsigned order in late May, paving the way for the defunding of the program, even as the underlying legal case has been sent back to lower courts.

A press release issued by DHS on Thursday states that “the Biden administration released over 500,000 poorly vetted aliens into the U.S. under the CHNV parole program,” and includes a statement from Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin: “Ending the CHNV parole programs, as well as the paroles of those who exploited it, will be a necessary return to common-sense policies, a return to public safety, and a return to America First.”

The release also encourages migrants to self deport with the Customs and Border Protection’s mobile app, the use of which will result in a $1,000 “exit bonus.”