Parole is Not a Substitute for Asylum or other Permanent Status

By Jack Rosenberry 

Immigrants who are in the United States under some type of paroled status must proceed cautiously because varying types of parole and circumstances of each type may offer less protection than they think it does.

people who are paroled should not assume it can last forever.

But perhaps the most important thing to know is that parole is never permanent, and also is subject to being revoked suddenly with no recourse. 

“Parole was never meant to be a long-term solution,” said immigration attorney Brandon Roché. He has met people who confused being on parole with having full legal status – which it is not – or who thought it could be renewed indefinitely, which also is not the case. 

Complicating things further is that different types of parole exist, and paroled immigrants often are not even sure what type of parole they have. 

One common type is known as humanitarian parole, which is permission to enter the United States for reasons such as receiving medical treatment only available in the US, or attending a loved one’s funeral. In that case, the parole is designed to end once the humanitarian action is finished, such as when the medical treatment is completed or the funeral is over. 

A broader category of parole has been applied to immigrants from some places, including Afghanistan and Ukraine, because of the ongoing conflicts in their home countries. Special categories of parole have also been created for immigrants from some other troubled countries such as Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. 

But now some of those paroles are being revoked and people who are in the US under those programs will have to leave when the revocation takes effect. Additionally, parole does not always allow for or automatically come with work authorization and only rarely can be converted to any type of permanent legal status.

Humanitarian parole usually requires advance application and authorization, Roché said, rather than asking for it at an initial border crossing. However, getting advance approval has become more difficult with the end of the CBP-1 program that allowed entry applications from people outside the US via an Internet app, he said.

Some types of parole can be granted to border crossers. In that case, the parole term would be specified – often one year – to allow time for any other relief applications to be made. Missing that deadline would put the parolee at risk. Renewals are sometimes granted, but are not guaranteed; immigrants who think they can just keep renewing a parole status are mistaken and could easily find themselves detained and deported, Roché said.

Parole status used to offer protection against detention and deportation, but new Trump administration policies mean that’s not always the case now, he added.

Because so many variables can affect what happens to parolees, “It’s too hard to pigeonhole parole into one thing,” Roché said. But most importantly, people who are paroled should not assume it can last forever.