DHS Ends Programs to Reunite U.S. Citizens With Family Members Abroad and TPS for Ethiopians

The Trump administration shut down two methods of relief for immigrants on Friday, leaving thousands of families from Latin American countries in bureaucratic limbo and ending deportation protections for Ethiopians.

The Department of Homeland Security announced it would shut down programs aimed at reuniting U.S. citizens and permanent residents with family members by allowing them to enter the country while they wait out visa backlogs. The agency also moved on Friday to end the designation of Temporary Protected Status for more than 5,000 Ethiopians.

These actions continue the administration’s efforts to target immigrants who are currently protected from deportation or have work permits, some of whom entered the country legally.

In the case of the Family Reunification Parole programs, family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who were authorized to enter the country will now be at risk of deportation in 30 days.

“Now the United States is saying, despite you already being in the country, and despite you having a visa pathway available to you that you are just in line for, we’re going to force you to leave the United States, go back to your home country, wait out multiple years there, and then eventually you get to come back,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. “Well, that doesn’t make sense to me.”

In the past two years, approximately 16,000 people have entered the country through the parole programs, which started in 2007 for Cubans, in 2014 for Haitians and in 2023 for Colombians, Ecuadorians, Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans, according to a Federal Register notice DHS published Friday.

DHS stated that it determined the programs weren’t successful in deterring unauthorized border crossings. The notice says that a recent audit of the programs found that 700 applications listed U.S. citizen or permanent resident sponsors who were dead.

“The desire to reunite families before their priority dates are current does not outweigh the U.S. government’s responsibility to prevent fraud and abuse of these programs and to uphold national security and public safety for the American people,” the notice states.

While the notice states that DHS won’t revoke parole for those who have submitted permanent residency applications as of Friday, the subagency overseeing applications from immigrants who entered through the parole programs placed a hold on their processing in February.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ questions as to whether the hold on applications for parolees was still in place.

Uncertainty is even greater for Cubans and Haitians. Citing the shooting of two National Guard members last month near the White House, USCIS announced on Dec. 2 a pause in the consideration of green cards, sponsorship and citizenship applications from immigrants from 19 countries, including Cuba and Haiti.

Thousands of Ethiopians Could Soon Face Deportation

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to end TPS for Ethiopians, a status that protects immigrants from deportation and grants them work authorization, follows the administration’s pattern of ending the designations once they’re up for renewal.

“The Secretary has determined that, while some sporadic and episodic violence occurs in Ethiopia, the situation no longer meets the criteria for an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Ethiopian nationals,” the Friday Federal Register notice states.

Approximately 5,001 Ethiopians have TPS, and 263 were awaiting approval for the status, according to the Federal Register notice. The revocation goes into effect in 60 days.

Former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas granted TPS to Ethiopians in 2022 because of the civil war that broke out in the country in 2020.

So far, the Trump administration has moved to strip the status from Myanmar, Syria, Nicaragua, Honduras, Nepal, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Haiti and Venezuela. While the decisions face ongoing legal battles, the Supreme Court has twice greenlit Noem’s authority to end TPS for Venezuelans in the emergency docket.