TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Trump Administration took another step Tuesday designed to get immigrants to leave the U.S. The administration says migrants who were allowed to legally be in the country are here illegally now.
Under the Biden Administration, hundreds of thousands of migrants were legally allowed into this country if immigration officers decided they had a real credible fear of being in danger if they were forced to go back to their home countries. That was called parole. Now the Trump Administration has revoked those paroles and told those people to go home.
The idea behind parole was to allow time for judges to decide if someone really had a legitimate need for safe asylum in the U.S. Because of court backlogs, the hearings might be spread over several years.
Speaking to Arizona lawmakers, Border Czar Tom Homan told them when a migrant does stand before a judge most asylum claims do not hold up.
“We got millions of people that come to our Southern Border demanding the right to claim asylum, demanding the right to see a judge. They were given that. They got their due process and guess what? Nine out of ten will end up with an order of removal because nine out of ten made a fraudulent asylum claim. They said a few key words and were released in the United States by the last administration.”
That release usually comes with an appointment for a court hearing.
Now the Trump Administration is telling migrants they no longer have the parole that let them stay in the country while they wait to plead their case.
“It doesn't even look like it's an actual like order, so to speak.”
Immigration Attorney Mo Goldman thinks the administration made a statement designed to convince people to leave— but his legal take is, depending on details of a case, a migrant may still be protected from deportation if their case is officially in the courts.
“And so that, I think, is an argument that could be made for some of the people that they can't just self deport because they have a valid asylum claim pending in front of the immigration court.”
But another part of the parole revocation could drive people to self deport. The parole revocation can revoke the legal authority to hold a job here and without a legal way to support themselves people might decide to leave.