Washington — The Trump administration has given federal immigration authorities permission to revoke the legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants the former Biden White House allowed into the U.S. and seek their deportation, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by CBS News.
The far-reaching move empowers federal immigration agencies, including U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement, to target a population of migrants who came to the U.S. with the government’s permission and who expected to be shielded from deportation, at least temporarily.
Now, ICE officers can arrest, detain and deport — in some cases, in an expedited fashion — at least 1.5 million migrants who came to the U.S. in recent years under programs the Biden administration said dissuaded illegal immigration but that the Trump administration now argues were unlawful.
The major policy change was authorized by acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman, who the Trump administration placed in that position pending the confirmation of President Trump’s pick to lead the department, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
In his 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 to implement two directives he recently issued.
One of Huffman’s orders instructed officials to start the process of phasing out Biden administration policies that allowed certain migrants to enter the U.S. through an immigration authority known as parole. The parole authority enables presidents to admit foreigners on humanitarian grounds quickly but the Trump administration argues 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 distributed entry appointments to those waiting in Mexico. The app, known as CBP One, was shut down immediately after Mr. Trump took office.
Parole was also used by the Biden administration to allow more than half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to fly to the U.S. if they had sponsors in the country willing to financially help them. Like those allowed into the country under the CBP One process, these migrants were made eligible for two-year government work permits through the parole status.
Andres Leighton / AP
Huffman’s second order expanded a fast-track deportation process that allows immigration officials to deport certain migrants, without allowing them to see an immigration judge. The policy, known as expedited removal, has long been limited to areas within 100 miles of U.S. land borders and to migrants who were in the county for fewer than two weeks.
But Huffman expanded expedited removal nationwide and made it applicable to migrants who can’t prove they’ve been in the U.S. for over two years. That decision is already being challenged in federal court by pro-immigrant advocates.
In his latest memo on Thursday, Huffman said immigration authorities, exercising their new powers, should review cases and determine who is eligible to be placed in expedited removal. That process, he said, could include revoking the parole status of an individual, as well as terminating any pending immigration court case, to seek that person’s quick removal from the U.S.
Huffman’s memo indicated those who are not eligible for expedited removal, because they have been in the U.S. for more than two years, are also at risk of being targeted for deportation.
He said immigration officers should consider placing in deportation proceedings those brought to the U.S. under Biden administration parole programs that will be scrapped, paused or changed under Mr. Trump’s directives. Their parole status could be revoked, Huffman suggested, “in light of any changed legal or factual circumstance.”
It’s unclear if the Trump administration’s orders will be used to seek the arrest and deportation of other migrants brought to the U.S. by the Biden administration under the parole authority. They include tens of thousands of Afghans airlifted from Kabul following the U.S. military withdrawal in 2021, as well as 240,000 Ukrainians sponsored by Americans after Russia’s invasion of their homeland.
