Washington, D.C.—Church World Service today expressed its deep concern about reports that the Biden administration does not have plans to establish a streamlined process to extend protections for humanitarian parolees from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The ‘CHNV’ (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela) private sponsorship program—which launched for Venezuelans in October 2022 and for other populations in January 2023—grants individuals permission to live and work in the United States legally for two years.
Without the ability to extend their temporary parole period, hundreds of thousands of people will be placed into legal limbo and may fall out of lawful status and lose work authorization.
“This reported decision undermines our commitment to protect those seeking refuge and delivers a devastating blow to families who have finally reached safety,” said Danilo Zak of Church World Service. “The Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who entered on humanitarian parole are here lawfully, they are working and contributing to their new communities and must be provided the same access to protection as others who entered the United States via similar programs. We urge the Biden administration to establish a streamlined re-parole process for CHNV parolees, and we further call on policymakers to commit to more permanent humanitarian protections to prevent more newcomers from living and working in legal limbo.”
The CHNV program has benefitted hundreds of thousands of individuals on a case-by-case basis to safely travel and temporarily remain in the United States for urgent humanitarian reasons.
The administration successfully launched “re-parole” processes for Afghan parolees in June 2023 and Ukrainian parolees in February 2024, both of which provided vital ongoing protection to those who have sought the same protections as those entering via the CHNV program. While some of the CHNV parolees have the opportunity to apply for other protections like Temporary Protected Status, nearly 100,000 Nicaraguans who entered via the parole program have no clear path to protection.
For more information, or to speak with Zak, contact media@cwsglobal.org.