José dreams of boarding a plane from Caracas, Venezuela, to meet his newborn granddaughter. Maria hopes her son will move to Houston from Nicaragua before his dad starts to lose his memory from early onset Alzheimer’s. Jackson Duvert imagines Houston as a haven for his family from the gang violence and political turmoil upending Haiti. 

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

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

Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans are among Houston’s fastest growing immigration populations, according to a Migration Policy Institute study. The Haitian population is smaller with less than 10,000 estimated Haitians living in Houston. 

Yet the program was paused after a temporary suspension in July by the Department of Homeland Security while it investigated potential fraud. The Biden administration then restarted it at the end of August with new security measures that have slowed down the approval process, according to Houston community organizations for each nationality. 

With less than two months until the presidential elections, the clock is ticking for families awaiting approval for a program that could be gutted if former President Donald Trump returns to office. Republicans have constantly taken aim at the program for supposedly allowing undocumented immigrants to enter the U.S., even though it requires previous approval.

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

DHS said that it has resumed issuing new travel authorizations and is continuing to monitor the new process. The new vetting measures include increased scrutiny of sponsor’s financial documents and criminal backgrounds, mandatory fingerprinting of sponsors, and extra measures to identify repeat filers. 

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

Pillar of Biden’s immigration policy

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

The month prior to the program’s launch, more than 91,000 people from the four nationalities were apprehended at the southern border. They made up about 36 percent of crossings. By the most recent statistics in July, about 29,600 people were apprehended, representing about 25 percent of total crossings.

The program has achieved its intended goal, according to Tom K. Wong, senior fellow for Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress who has studied the impact of the program.

The number of unauthorized crossings for these four nationalities decreased 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 do want to better manage flows at the southern border we should be creating more legal pathways to entry,” Wong said. 

Lifeline 

The program has been a lifeline for these communities in Houston, according to representatives of nationality-based community organizations.

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

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

Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has increased repression against opposition since he declared himself winner of highly contested July elections. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have fled a political and humanitarian crisis under his government. Venezuelan migration is only expected to increase after hopes of a peaceful transition were dashed.

Without a legal pathway, Venezuelans often endure a deadly, days-long trek through the jungle in Panama on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. The parole program has provided another option. 

“Not having a response from programs such as humanitarian parole makes Venezuelan citizens escape from Venezuela through irregular migration, and risk their lives on 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 after a protest movement and years of economic collapse exacerbated by the pandemic has led to an increased exodus from the island.

For those in Houston, the suspension of the program threw them into limbo. 

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

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

“We’ve never had anything like this, even though the country’s been in turmoil,” said Harry Jean-Baptiste, vice president of Houston Haitians United. 

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

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

New process

The importance of the program for these communities only increased the anxiety over the suspension. Some were still waiting for their applications to be approved. Others were preparing to go but had their travel authorization revoked. 

Maria lost hope of reuniting with her son. José missed his granddaughter’s birth. Duvert feared for his family’s safety.

José, who is being identified by his middle name because he fears retaliation in Venezuela, applied for the program with his sister in Houston as his sponsor. USCIS approved his parole application in March. He then took the next step to request his travel authorization from CBP, which he received in June. He scheduled a flight in August within the 90-day travel authorization limit. He was hoping to arrive before his granddaughter’s due date. 

But his travel authorization was revoked when he checked back after the program was suspended. On Aug. 23, his granddaughter was born.

“They didn’t allow us to be at a family event that was so important,” José said.

He is currently waiting for CBP to reissue his travel authorization. If they don’t, he may have to apply all over again. 

With so many Venezuelans applying to the program, some are now waiting up to 14 months, according to Márquez. 

Nicaraguans, in contrast, can be approved in a few weeks or months, according to Manuel Prado, a local Nicaraguan community leader. 

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 the 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 yet sponsor her son because she has not received her residency. Her asylum case is ongoing. 

This time, Prado was asked to write an explanation of why the family deserved to benefit from this program. He cited the political repression in Nicaragua that caused 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 spare rooms and a pool house. 

Prado admitted that the number of applications he filled out could have flagged him in the system as a potential fraud case. 

He isn’t too worried, though. All the people he has sponsored have stayed with him free of charge for a few months until finding a job and getting settled. 

“Everything is legit. My background is clear. I’m a U.S. citizen,” Prado said. “So I have no issues with being investigated. I’ve done things the correct way.”

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

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

Many other Houston families remain hopeful for a positive outcome. 

“You can never recover time spent with not just your kids, but your granddaughter who is a new member of the family,” José said. “It’s priceless. We still hope that it will happen and we’re just asking God that they take into consideration cases like ours.”

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