Experts Mull Lapse of Parole Program

Arun Venugopal, Gothamist, Oct. 8, 2024

"The Biden administration's announcement on Friday that it will end an immigration parole program that gave legal protections to migrants from four countries is expected to affect the lives of many New Yorkers, though exactly how many was unclear. The lapse of the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan — or CHNV — parole program comes just weeks ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, in which border security and immigration have featured as central issues. The move is estimated to directly impact some 500,000 people nationwide, but could keep many more families separated. ... Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law practice at Cornell Law School, said the CHNV parole program was established in part “to try to relieve some pressure on the U.S.-Mexico border.” “So the people would be coming legally if they could have a financial sponsor in the United States, rather than illegally and tak[ing] their chances, risking that dangerous journey,” he said. “But it is temporary and it has worked to reduce the number of illegal entries at the border.” Yale-Loehr noted that other factors could have affected the decision to end the program, including reports that the Venezuelan economy is improving. ... Dara Lind, a senior fellow at the nonprofit American Immigration Council, said various things can go wrong with a parole program. “And so it would not be surprising if one of the unintended consequences here were a greater extent of fraud than we're used to seeing, which is usually very, very, very, very low," Lind said. She added that it was not possible to know if the program was ended for political reasons. “Unfortunately, the government has been really, really not transparent about this,” Lind said, noting “there was no communication” from the Biden administration about whether it would renew the program."