Families are hopeful as Biden’s parole program hangs in the balance

José dreams of boarding a plane in Caracas, Venezuela, to meet his newborn granddaughter. Maria hopes her son will move from Nicaragua to Houston before his father begins to lose memory with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Jackson Duvert sees Houston as a refuge for his family from the gang violence and political unrest that plague Haiti.

A Biden administration program for Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans that began in January 2023 has provided a legal migration path for nearly half a million people. It has given hope for a legal migration path for José, Maria, Duvert and many others.

The program grants humanitarian release to live in the U.S. for two years to up to 30,000 Nicaraguans, Cubans, Venezuelans and Haitians per month. They must have a sponsor in the U.S. and be screened and approved. Sponsors must have legal status in the U.S.

Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans are among Houston’s fastest-growing immigrant populations, according to a study by the Migration Policy Institute. The Haitian population is smaller, with fewer than 10,000 Haitians estimated to live in Houston.

Still, the program was paused after a temporary suspension in July by the Department of Homeland Security while it investigated possible fraud. The Biden administration then restarted it in late August with new safeguards that have slowed the approval process, according to Houston community organizations for every nationality.

With less than two months to go before the presidential election, the clock is ticking for families waiting for approval for a program that could be gutted if former President Donald Trump returns to office. Republicans have consistently criticized the program for allowing so-called undocumented immigrants to enter the U.S. even though prior approval is required.

“I can’t live without my son,” said Maria, who is referred to only by her first name for fear of reprisals against her family in Nicaragua. “He is my family.”

DHS said it has resumed issuing new travel authorizations and continues to monitor the new process. The new screening measures include increased scrutiny of sponsors’ financial records and criminal records, mandatory fingerprinting of sponsors and additional measures to identify repeat applicants.

“Together with our existing rigorous screening of potential beneficiaries seeking travel to the United States, these new procedures for supporters have strengthened the integrity of these processes and will help protect against beneficiary exploitation,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.

Pillar of Biden’s immigration policy

The program is a key pillar of the Biden administration’s effort to create a “more lawful, safe and orderly” immigration system.

In the month prior to the launch of the program, more than 91,000 people of the four nationalities were apprehended at the southern border, accounting for approximately 36 percent of border crossings. According to the most recent statistics in July, approximately 29,600 people were apprehended, accounting for approximately 25 percent of the total number of border crossings.

According to Tom K. Wong, a senior fellow for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, who has studied the program’s impact, the program has achieved its intended purpose.

The number of unauthorized border crossings for these four nationalities dropped by 65 percent in the 14 months after the program began, his research found. This shows that policies implemented outside the border region influence border crossings, Wong said.

“If we want to better manage flows at the southern border, we need to create more legal routes,” Wong said.

Lifeline

According to representatives of nationality-based community organizations, the program is a lifeline for these communities in Houston.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, have overseen a bloody crackdown on the opposition since 2018. Hundreds of people have been killed in protests. When elections were held in 2021, Ortega jailed his rivals. More than 260 journalists have fled the country.

“Being a journalist or communications specialist is a crime in Nicaragua,” Maria said.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has stepped up his crackdown on the opposition since declaring himself the winner of a highly contested election in July. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have fled a political and humanitarian crisis under his rule. Venezuelan migration is expected to increase as hopes for a peaceful transition were dashed.

Without a legal route, Venezuelans often have to make a deadly, days-long trek through the Panamanian jungle on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. The parole program has offered another option.

“Because programs like humanitarian release fail to respond, Venezuelan citizens are fleeing Venezuela through illegal migration, risking their lives along the way,” said Jorge Márquez, a Venezuelan community organizer in Houston.

A record 220,000 Cubans crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022, according to data from Customs and Border Protection. Increased political repression following a protest movement and years of economic collapse, exacerbated by the pandemic, have led to an increased exodus from the island.

For Houston residents, the program’s suspension meant uncertainty.

“Stopping it is not the answer,” said Adolfo Rodríguez, president of Casa Cuba in Houston.

Years of gang violence and deteriorating security reached a peak in Haiti earlier this year, making the program even more crucial for those trying to flee. Gangs seized the airport. Flights were halted for months. The prime minister resigned under pressure.

“We have never experienced anything like this before, even though the country is in turmoil,” said Harry Jean-Baptiste, vice president of Houston Haitians United.

The “Biden program,” as Haitians call it, has even spawned a YouTube series and original songs.

“It created its own culture,” Jean-Baptiste said. “That’s why you know how monumental this program has been in the Haitian community.”

New process

The importance of the program to these communities only increased the fear of the suspension. Some were still waiting for their applications to be approved. Others were preparing to go, only to have their travel authorizations revoked.

Maria lost hope of being reunited with her son. José missed the birth of his granddaughter. Duvert feared for the safety of his family.

José, who goes by his middle name because he fears reprisals in Venezuela, applied for the program with his sister in Houston as his sponsor. USCIS approved his application for parole in March. He then took the next step of applying for his travel authorization from CBP, which he received in June. He scheduled a flight in August within the 90-day travel authorization deadline. He hoped to arrive before his granddaughter’s due date.

But his travel permit was revoked when he returned after the program was suspended. On August 23, his granddaughter was born.

“They wouldn’t let us attend such an important family celebration,” José said.

He is currently waiting for CBP to reissue his travel authorization. If they don’t, he may have to reapply from scratch.

According to Márquez, some of them now have to wait up to 14 months because so many Venezuelans have signed up for the program.

According to Manuel Prado, a local Nicaraguan community leader, Nicaraguans, on the other hand, can be approved within weeks or months.

Prado has sponsored 16 Nicaraguans through the parole program. His family moved from the Nicaraguan coast to the U.S. in the 1980s, fleeing a war between the ruling Sandinista leftist revolutionaries and U.S.-backed Contra forces. He is now a U.S. citizen.

In September he filled out his 17th application for Maria’s son and her sister. Maria cannot sponsor her son yet because she has not yet received her residence permit. Her asylum application is still pending.

This time, Prado was asked to write an explanation of why the family deserved to benefit from this program. He mentioned the political repression in Nicaragua that forced Maria to flee, the importance of family reunification, and her husband’s deteriorating health. He explained his own situation as a U.S. citizen and homeowner with two guest bedrooms and a pool house.

Prado admitted that the number of applications he had filled out could have indicated that he was a potential fraud case in the system.

He is not too worried though. All the people he has sponsored have stayed with him for a few months for free until they find a job and get settled.

“Everything is legitimate. My background is clear. I’m an American citizen,” Prado said. “So I have no problem being investigated. I did things the right way.”

Duvert runs HTK Immigration Services, which specializes in helping Haitians in Houston apply for or adjust their immigration status. He brought in his mother and sister by sponsoring them after waiting years for their visas. He’s still waiting to bring in other nieces, nephews, and extended family.

“This program means a lot to me,” Duvert said. “There’s no other way I could bring people to the U.S. if it wasn’t for this program.”

Many other families in Houston remain hopeful for a positive outcome.

“You can never get back the time you spent not only with your children, but with your granddaughter who is a new member of the family,” José said. “It’s priceless. We still hope that it will happen and we just ask God to consider things like ours.”

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