The Trump administration is ending the family-reunification parole programs for Cuba, Haiti and six other Latin American countries in another blow to legal migration from the region.

The Department of Homeland Security “is terminating all categorical family reunification parole programs for aliens from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras, and their immediate family members,” the agency said Friday.

Migrants who benefited from the program and are already in the United States will lose their legal status on Jan. 14 unless they have applied for permanent residence or to adjust their status by Monday, Dec. 15, DHS said. The agency will also revoke employment authorizations for migrants who lose their status.

DHS justified the decision by arguing that family-reunification parole programs “had security gaps caused by insufficient vetting that malicious and fraudulent actors could exploit to enter the United States, which posed an unacceptable level of risk to the United States..... DHS is prioritizing the safety, security, and financial and economic well-being of Americans.”

It is unclear, however, which security gaps the agency is referring to. Individuals granted parole under the family-reunification programs have already passed the vetting for a regular immigration visa and have been approved for one. The parole just allowed them to travel to the United States and wait here while the visa became available.

“These people were invited to come to the U.S. by the government and followed all of the regulations, and now they are being pushed out,” said Miami immigration attorney Patricia Elizée.

The original parole programs were put in place to expedite family reunification for Cubans and Haitians. Under the program, relatives of lawful U.S. permanent residents or citizens, who are already approved to immigrate to the United States, are offered the opportunity to travel to the U.S. and wait for permanent residency here rather than in their home country. The wait can take anywhere from eight to 10 years.

It was unclear Friday evening how many people will be affected by the administration’s decision.

The family-reunification parole process has suffered from backlogs and, in the case of Haiti, shuttered U.S. consular services in the Caribbean country. Even after arriving in the U.S., individuals benefiting from the program face a long wait before receiving their green cards. Those are the individuals the Trump administration is targeting with the new policy, while also closing the door on those still awaiting U.S. green light in their home countries.

The parole programs for Cubans and Haitians were suspended during the first Trump administration. They were reinstated by Biden, who later expanded them to include Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in an effort to decrease the number of migrants from those countries trying to illegally cross the U.S. border.

The programs’ termination is another sign that the Trump administration does not welcome legal immigration from countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. Earlier this month, the administration halted all immigration processes, including adjustment of status, for Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans and nationals of 13 other countries.

Ira Kurzban, a prominent Miami-based immigration attorney, said that Trump and his immigration czar, Stephen Miller, have “long planned the end of parole programs that protect the lives of many in the United States.”

“They stopped the parole programs during the first Miller/Trump administration. The only difference is that they are getting more adept at blaming Biden for everything. This decision, made during the first Miller/Trump administration, truly has nothing to do with Biden or what happened at the border. They just don’t want Hispanics and refugees of color in the United States,” he said. ”Trump virtually admitted it at (a) rally in Pennsylvania.”

Already, families split between South Florida, Cuba, and Haiti have found themselves in legal limbo and with very few options to reunite. Trump included Cuba and Haiti in a travel ban in June that paused family reunification involving relatives of permanent residents. And thousands of Cubans and Haitians who entered the country through another two-year humanitarian parole program created under Biden face deportation after DHS canceled the program and revoked their paroles.

Melodie, a Haitian national who asked for her last name to not be used, told The Miami Herald she has been waiting almost a decade to join her mother and siblings in the United States after her mother applied for permanent residency for her. In 2021, she received a letter notifying her she had been “technically approved.”

“Since then, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity for an interview in Haiti,” she said about one of the final hurdles needed before being allowed to travel to the United States to complete the process. “There’s a long wait for the residents’ interviews.”

Although she periodically checks her status online, she said, she began losing hope in November 2024 when she saw that Trump had won the election. This was further cemented when he instituted a travel ban for Haiti.

“I’ve just sort of been telling myself…I’m among the lucky few. I have good work in Haiti. I live in Cap-Haïtien with family, and I’m committed to living here,” she said. ”I didn’t sell my house like other people did, and pack up everything, so I minimized my risks, and I didn’t quit my job.”

Still, the idea of possibly being shut off from the U.S. while living in a country on the brink of collapse is daunting, said the 41-year-old who had basically put her life on hold after moving from gang-torn Port-au-Prince. “I was moving to the States because that’s where my family is.”

The DHS called the termination “a necessary return to common-sense policies and a return to America First.”

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