The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and other immigration groups reported today that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has suspended the processing of all immigration applications filed by individuals who entered on parole programs. This includes Ukrainian parolees who arrived in the United States through Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) and other parole programs such as the CHNV process for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.
A February 18 CBS News article reported that the Acting USCIS Deputy Director issued an internal memo on February 14, 2025 directing USCIS officers to pause all immigration applications filed by or on behalf of individuals paroled into the United States under the U4U, CHNV, and Family Reunification parole programs. This report has been confirmed by multiple sources.
The administrative pause has been put in place indefinitely and affects all immigration applications, petitions and requests for ancillary benefits filed by parolees. This includes applications filed by parolees for asylum, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), advance parole travel, adjustment of status to permanent residence, naturalization, and all other applications filed to USCIS. This is in addition to the previously announced suspension of the Uniting for Ukraine program and streamlined online re-parole for Ukrainians.
While USCIS officers may continue to work on cases already filed, they are not allowed to issue any decisions while the administrative pause is in effect. This means that parolees who planned to apply or recently applied for another lawful status through USCIS will not be able to obtain any approvals for the foreseeable future.
As a result, when their parole period expires, parolees will not have lawful status if they did not already receive another lawful status before the administrative pause went into effect. This exposes them to higher risk of immigration detention and deportation. In some cases, parolees without lawful status could also begin to accrue unlawful presence, which can affect future eligibility for various forms of immigration relief.
If parolees are placed in standard removal proceedings and issued a Notice to Appear (NTA) in immigration court, they may still seek asylum, TPS, and other types of relief from deportation, but their requests would be made directly to the immigration judge deciding their case. Requests for relief in immigration court are subject to rejection by prosecuting attorneys from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
For parolees who have not yet filed but are considering filing such applications as TPS, asylum, or adjustment of status, there could be advantages to proceeding with these applications even while the administrative pause is in effect. As of now, the administrative pause is only a suspension, not a permanent closure of these avenues to parolees. Although USCIS officers are not allowed to issue any decisions to parolees, it is possible that parolees who recently filed applications or plan to file applications to USCIS could potentially receive decisions in the future.
Filing certain immigration applications, such as bona fide TPS and asylum applications, can stop the accrual of unlawful presence, even if it doesn’t grant parolees a lawful status or prevent them from entering into unlawful status after their parole expires. Although filing for asylum does not confer a new lawful status, it does allow the applicant to remain in the U..S. while their application is pending. Meanwhile, filing certain applications, such as a bona fide Adjustment of Status to Permanent Residence, actually confers a lawful status that allows individuals to remain in the U.S.
Additionally, filing for asylum could protect parolees that are subject to Expedited Removal from being deported. Providing evidence of a pending asylum application could be particularly relevant for those parolees who have been designated as priorities for Expedited Removal, which includes parolees who have lived in the U.S. for more than one year but less than two years and haven’t applied for asylum. If these parolees are placed in Expedited Removal, they could argue that they have filed these applications.
We will continue to monitor these and other legal developments affecting parolees. For additional assistance and immigration inquiries, please contact a qualified immigration attorney.