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Feds to review parole status of immigrants released into US

A Homeland Security memo released earlier this month expands the use of expedited removal and calls for a review of immigrants released into the U.S. under parole programs.

The memo was issued by acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Huffman before Kristi Noem was confirmed as DHS secretary.

The memo gives DHS officials the ability to “pause, modify, or terminate, effective immediately, any parole program that is inconsistent with the memo.”

Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump ended several Biden-era parole programs for immigrants. One program specifically allowed Nicaraguan, Cuban, Haitian, and Venezuelan immigrants a chance to remain in the United States for two years under parole supervision as long as they had a sponsor in the US and passed security screening.

However, Chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, US Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) said,A staggering 1.5 million inadmissible aliens were unlawfully paroled into our communities, with insufficient vetting.”

Houston immigration attorney Raed Gonzalez said there were instances of immigrants being allowed into the US under parole programs with few questions asked and under the assumption they would apply for asylum.

“They’re going after some individuals that were paroled into the country, and they did not have a credible fear interview,” said Gonzalez. “So, there was a point where maybe the border was busy, and they allowed them in, and an immigration judge would see their case at some point.”

Establishing whether an immigrant has a “credible fear” of being returned to their home country is a key component to being granted asylum in the US.

Gonzalez said some immigrants had not applied for asylum by the two-year deadline imposed by the parole program.

“I don’t want to say all of them, but a lot of people are at risk now than they were before,” said Gonzalez.

DHS will now decide parole on a case-by-case basis, as well as review those currently under a parole program. The memo calls for ICE agents to “review the alien’s parole status to determine, in exercising your enforcement discretion, whether parole remains appropriate in light of any changed legal or factual circumstances.”

The memo also expands the government’s use of expedited removal to include immigrants who have been in the country for less than two years. Expedited removal gives the federal government the ability to remove an immigrant from the country without first having an immigration hearing.

“Take all steps necessary to review the alien’s case and consider, in exercising your enforcement discretion, whether to apply expedited removal. This may include steps to terminate any ongoing removal proceeding and/or any active parole status," the memo reads.

“I think they’re really going hard on just anybody who’s here under a parole,” said Houston immigration attorney, Kim Bruno. “I’ve had clients tell me, ‘They asked me if I was afraid to go back and who I had with me, and then they gave me paperwork for each person and then processed me.’”

Bruno said not having established “credible fear,” before being granted parole into the US, puts those immigrants in a more vulnerable position for removal under the new directive.


About the Author
Robert Arnold headshot

Award winning investigative journalist who joined KPRC 2 in July 2000. Husband and father of the Master of Disaster and Chaos Gremlin. “I don’t drink coffee to wake up, I wake up to drink coffee.”