Sen. Ruben Gallego explains his immigration reform priorities
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego explains the areas where he hopes to find common ground with Republicans on immigration.
Arizona Republic
- Hundreds of asylum seekers paroled into the U.S. via the CBP One app received parole termination notices.
- Asylum seekers with pending cases or other deportation protections are not required to leave the U.S. despite the notices, immigration lawyers and advocates say.
The 38-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan was getting ready for his 4 a.m. shift as a wheelchair assistant at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport when he checked his email. He found a notification from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“It is time for you to leave the United States,” the first sentence of the notification said.
The notification, which had arrived at 10:49 p.m. the night before, said that under the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security, the man’s parole allowing him to live in the U.S. was being terminated in seven days and he should leave the country.
“If you do not depart the United Stated immediately you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States — unless you have otherwise obtained a lawful basis to remain here,” the notification warned.
Work permits obtained through parole status also would be terminated, the notification said.
The man, whose name is Hekmatullah Quvanch, said he was terrified by the notification.
“I am worried, scared and confused,” Quvanch said through an interpreter.
Quvanch is one of scores, and perhaps hundreds, of asylum seekers living in Arizona who received similar notifications from the Department of Homeland Security on April 10 and 11 after being paroled into the U.S. through the CBP One app during the Biden administration, according to immigration lawyers and refugee resettlement groups.
Starting in 2023, the Biden administration allowed migrants to request appointments through the CBP One app at legal border crossings as part of an effort to discourage illegal crossings and bring order to the asylum crisis at the southern border.
President Donald Trump frequently criticized the app, saying it facilitated the abuse of the asylum system by migrants and smugglers.
Roughly 900,000 migrants were paroled into the U.S. through the use of the CBP One app, which Trump ended on his first day in office. The Trump administration has since renamed the app CBP Home and is instructing migrants living in the U.S. to use it to self-deport.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed April 11 that the parole termination notifications had been sent out.
“CBP has issued notices terminating parole for individuals who do not have lawful status to remain. This process is not limited to CBP One users and does not currently apply to those paroled under programs like U4U and OAW,” the statement said.
UFU and OAW are programs created under the Biden administration to allow asylum seekers fleeing the war in Ukraine and Afghans who assisted the U.S. military to enter the U.S.
Migrants react to parole termination notifications
The Arizona Refugee Center in Mesa was contacted either in person or by phone on April 11 by more than 60 immigrants who had received the parole termination notifications, said Julianna Larsen, the center’s founder.
The immigrants were from a range of countries, Larsen said, including Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico and Afghanistan.
Quvanch came into the center in person, Larsen said. He has applied for asylum and his case is pending in immigration court. The notification only applies to migrants who have not applied for asylum or other deportation protections while under parole status, and therefore Quvanch should not have to leave, she said.
She believes the Department of Homeland Security notifications were intended to create confusion and chaos that would scare migrants into self-deporting as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.
“It’s fear,” Larsen said.
Migrants with only parole status who lose their work permits and their jobs would “have no choice but to leave” and return to their countries, where many could face danger, Larsen said.
The loss of migrants would also hurt employers who rely on them, as well as the economy, she said.
Asylum seekers don’t have to leave, attorney says
Most immigrants granted parole to enter the U.S. already have applied for asylum, another form of deportation protection, said Delia Salvatierra, a Phoenix immigration lawyer.
They don’t have to leave while their cases are pending, she said. Still, the parole termination notifications are scaring immigrants who were granted parole to pursue immigration cases in the U.S., Salvatierra said.
She received a call April 11 from a man from Mexico who had fled to the U.S. after cartels tried to recruit his son. She said he was afraid he would have to leave the U.S. and return to Mexico after receiving the parole termination notification.
But Salvatierra said immigrants who have applied for asylum or other deportation protection while under parole status don’t have to leave while their cases are pending.
“Just because the current administration wants them to leave doesn’t mean that they have to leave if they have a pending court hearing or a pending matter that is being adjudicated by ‘U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ or the Department of Justice through the immigration courts,” she said.
She said those who received work permits through parole status, however, could be left without legal work authorization for months if they hadn’t already applied for work permits tied to their asylum cases.
Former journalist fled after Taliban takeover
Quvanch said he fled Afghanistan after the Taliban retook power in 2021 and quickly imposed an extremist ideology. As a government worker and journalist, Quvanch said he feared for his life and his family’s under the Taliban’s repressive regime.
After traveling to Mexico, Quvanch said he arrived at the port of entry near San Diego in January 2024 with his wife and three young daughters. He was granted parole to enter the U.S. and temporarily live in this country to seek asylum or other form of immigration relief.
After receiving a work permit, he got a job as a wheelchair assistant at the airport.
He and his wife also have a 4-month-old baby born in the U.S., making her a citizen of this country. He said he can’t go back to Afghanistan while the Taliban remains in control.
If he does, he said, his life will be in danger, and his four daughters will have no future because under the Taliban, girls are banned from receiving secondary education.
Larsen said Quvanch told her he still showed up to his job despite the shock of receiving the parole termination notification.
Quvanch told her one of his customers gave him a $100 tip.
“It was a bright spot that showed him a lot of people care,” Larsen said.
Republic reporters Stephanie Murray and Raphael Romero Ruiz contributed to this article.