Washington – The Trump administration has allowed federal immigration officials Revoke the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants The former Biden White House allowed the immigrants into the U.S. and sought their deportation, according to an Interior Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by CBS News.
The far-reaching move involves federal immigration agencies, including US Immigration Customs EnforcementTo target the population of immigrants coming to the US with government permission and who hoped to be at least temporarily protected from deportation.
Now, ICE officers can arrest, detain and deport — in some cases, in an expedited fashion — at least 1.5 million immigrants who came to the U.S. in recent years under programs the Biden administration created. Said to reject illegal immigration, but the Trump administration was now arguing it was illegal.
The major policy change was authorized by the Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin HuffmanThe Trump administration placed that position pending the confirmation of President Trump's pick to lead the department, South Dakota Gov. Christy Noem.
In her memo on Thursday, which was first reported by The New York Times, Huffman issued guidance to ICE, Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on how they should implement the two recently issued directives Is.
One of Huffman's orders directed officials to begin the process of phasing out Biden administration policies that allowed some immigrants to enter the U.S. through an immigration authorization, known as parole. . The parole authority enables presidents to quickly admit foreigners on humanitarian grounds, but the Trump administration argues that the Biden administration used it improperly.
The Biden administration used parole to process nearly 1 million migrants at legal crossings along the southern border through a phone app that delivered entry appointments to those waiting in Mexico. The app, known as CBP One, was shut down soon after Mr Trump took office.
Parole was used by the Biden administration to allow more than half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to travel to the US if they had sponsors in the country willing to help them financially. Allowed into the country under the CBP One process, these immigrants were made eligible for a two-year government work permit through parole status.
Andres Leighton/AP
huffman second order Expanded a fast-track deportation process that allows immigration authorities to deport some immigrants without allowing them to see an immigration judge. The policy, known as expedited removal, has long been limited to immigrants within 100 miles of U.S. land borders and those who were in the county for less than two weeks.
But Huffman expanded accelerates nationwide removal And it was applied to immigrants who cannot prove that they have been in the US for two years. That decision is already being challenged by pro-immigrant advocates in federal court.
In his latest memo Thursday, Huffman said immigration officials, using their new powers, must review cases and determine who should be placed on expedited removal. This process, he said, could include revoking a person's parole status as well as terminating any pending immigration court cases, seeking expedited removal of that person from the U.S.
Huffman's memo indicated that those who are not eligible for expedited removal because they have been in the US for more than two years are also at risk of being targeted for deportation.
He said immigration officials should consider including in deportation proceedings those brought to the U.S. under Biden administration parole programs that would be scrapped, halted or altered under Mr. Trump's directives. His parole status could be revoked, Huffman suggested, “in light of any changed legal or factual circumstances.”
It is unclear whether the Trump administration orders will be used by the Biden administration to arrest and seek deportation of other immigrants brought to the US under parole authority. They include thousands of Afghans evacuated from Kabul following the US military withdrawal in 2021, as well as 240,000 Ukrainians sponsored by the Americans following Russia's invasion of the homeland.
