On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump initiated a plan to expel approximately 1.5 million undocumented immigrants from the United States, intensifying a mass deportation effort that has begun to yield the results he promised shortly after assuming office.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported the apprehension of 538 undocumented immigrants within the first 24 hours of this nationwide initiative, prioritizing them for deportation. Tom Homan, the White House border czar, has asserted that focusing on individuals charged with violent offenses will keep ICE occupied for the foreseeable future; however, a new directive from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expands their focus to include around 1.5 million additional targets.
The parent agency of ICE has authorized immigration officials to reassess the parole status of migrants who entered the U.S. under various humanitarian asylum programs expanded during the Biden-Harris administration. Reports of criminal activity have been associated with Haitian and Venezuelan migrants, particularly in cities such as Springfield, Ohio, Aurora, Colorado, and Boston, Massachusetts, where officials, residents, and even President Trump have alleged that paroled gang members are endangering American citizens.
An internal memorandum signed on Thursday indicates that acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman has lifted restrictions on expedited removal, which facilitates the swift deportation of new migrants who do not meet the criteria of the asylum programs. This authority can now be applied to any migrant during their first two years in the United States.
According to Fox News, the memo also advises ICE officials to “consider, in exercising your enforcement discretion, whether to apply expedited removal” to immigrants who may be eligible but are currently excluded.
“This may include steps to terminate any ongoing removal proceedings and/or any active parole status,” the memo states.
Furthermore, the memo specifies that for any newly arrived migrant who has been granted parole under a program that has been paused or terminated by the Trump administration, officials are to take appropriate actions.
Secretary Huffman emphasizes that parole represents a “positive exercise of enforcement discretion” to which no alien has an inherent right, and that such parole “shall not be considered an admission of the alien.”
During President Joe Biden’s administration, the asylum parole programs were broadened to include migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela (CHNV), Ukraine, and Afghanistan. Recent modifications by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicate that CHNV entrants who were permitted entry at a U.S. port after scheduling an appointment via the now-discontinued border control application may also face removal.
Over 1.5 million individuals have entered the United States through either the CBP One app or the CHNV programs, which Republicans have criticized as a means for President Biden to bypass congressional measures addressing the immigration crisis. The Biden-Harris administration has argued that these “lawful pathways” serve to deter illegal immigration.
The DHS memorandum asserts that the asylum process “has been systematically misused by the Executive Branch over the past several decades in ways that are clearly at odds with the statute.”
“Crucially, the parole statute does not permit categorical parole programs that render aliens presumptively eligible based on a set of broadly applicable criteria,” it states.
