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WASHINGTON, DC – A FWD.us report published today provides new insights into the success of the Biden administration’s Cuba-Haití-Nicaragua-Venezuela (CHNV) parole program.
Established to create new legal migration paths away from the U.S.-Mexico border, CHNV pathways have proven to be a safe, fair, and orderly migration and border management solution that has reduced unauthorized migration and relieved pressure on city governments by empowering paroled migrants to become economically self-sufficient and to work in communities throughout the United States.
In an innovative FWD.us survey of CHNV parole participants, the data reveals that individuals who have qualified for the CHNV policy are helping relieve pressure on big cities by dispersing migrants throughout the country, relying on support from their sponsors and not the government, boosting local economies, and quickly establishing strong ties to their new communities. These new legal pathways reduce unauthorized migration from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela by allowing U.S. residents to sponsor their family or friends from these countries, granting them the ability to live and work legally in the United States for two years.
“Beyond incentivizing orderly migration away from the border, we are starting to see the compounding benefits of legal migration pathways like CHNV when parolees are given an opportunity to rely on a financial sponsor as they wait for work authorizations to begin contributing to their new communities soon after arriving in the United States,” said Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us.
While the federal government is limiting admissions to 30,000 individuals per month under the CHNV program, it has proven to be a massive success with the number of unauthorized border crossings plummeting by more than 90% for most of the participating nationalities.
Continued Schulte: “The CHNV program today stands as a model to which policymakers should be looking for evidence on how to build an immigration system that allows people to come in a scaled, sustainable manner that allows them to thrive in the U.S. It has already become one of the most successful tools in decades in lowering unauthorized migration at the border, relieving pressure on major cities, and making a much-needed investment in industries and local economies challenged by labor shortages.”
Read the full survey results here: New survey data show the administration’s parole policy for the Americas is a successful model for new legal pathways
Additional findings from the survey show that:
- The majority (80%) of migrants paroled through the CHNV process are working or looking for work, with many employed in occupations affected by persistent labor shortages.
- Nearly all (88%) respondents plan on participating in the workforce once they receive their expected work permits.
- Only a small share (21%) of respondents indicate that they lean on family for financial support, while an extremely low share (3%) relies on organizations or local government for assistance.
- Paroled individuals, according to the survey, live throughout the country, in as many as 27 states.
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