Washington - Saba:
The United States on Friday said it is terminating the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, giving them weeks to leave the country.
President Donald Trump has pledged to implement the largest deportation campaign in US history and restrict immigration, particularly from Latin American countries.
The decision affects approximately 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who came to the United States under a program launched by Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, in October 2022 and expanded in January of the following year.
They will lose legal protections 30 days after the Department of Homeland Security's order is published in the Federal Register on Tuesday.
This means that immigrants covered by the program "must depart the United States" by April 24 unless they obtain another immigration status that allows them to remain in the country, according to the department's order.
Wellcome US, an organization that supports asylum seekers in the United States, urged those affected by this decision to seek advice from an immigration attorney "immediately."
The program, targeting Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, allowed up to 30,000 migrants per month from the four countries with dismal human rights records to enter the United States for two years.
Biden described the plan as a "safe and humane" way to relieve pressure on the crowded U.S.-Mexico border. However, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Friday that the program was "temporary."
The order stated that "temporary permission to remain is temporary in nature and is not, on its own, essential to obtaining any immigration status and does not constitute admission to the United States."
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