Termination of the Central American Minors Parole Program, 38926-38927 [2017-16828]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 157 (Wednesday, August 16, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38926-38927]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-16828]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

[CIS No. 2604-17; DHS Docket No. USCIS-2017-0003]


Termination of the Central American Minors Parole Program

AGENCY: Department of Homeland Security.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is publishing this 
notice to notify the public that it will no longer provide special 
consideration of parole for certain individuals denied refugee status 
in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras under the Central American 
Minors (CAM) Parole Program.

DATES: Applicable August 16, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maura Nicholson, Deputy Chief, 
International Operations Division, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services, Department of Homeland Security, 20 Massachusetts Avenue NW, 
Suite 3300, Washington, DC 20529, Telephone 202-272-1892. (This is not 
a toll-free number.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On December 1, 2014, DHS and the U.S. Department of State (DOS) 
announced that the U.S. Government would allow certain minors in El 
Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to be considered for refugee status 
in the United States.\1\ This program, known as the CAM Refugee 
Program, allows certain parents lawfully present in the United States 
to request a refugee resettlement interview for unmarried children 
under 21 years of age, and certain other eligible family members, in 
Guatemala, El Salvador, or Honduras. The parent in the United States 
must be lawfully present \2\ in order to request that his or her child 
be provided access to the program and considered for refugee 
resettlement. In general, under current immigration laws, only lawful 
permanent residents and U.S. citizens can file family-based immigrant 
visa petitions. Therefore, many of the qualifying parents under the 
program are unable to file an immigrant petition for their in-country 
relatives. INA 204(a); 8 U.S.C. 1154(a). As a result, most of the 
beneficiaries of the program do not have another process under our 
immigration laws to enter the United States. On November 15, 2016, the 
program was expanded to include other qualifying relatives.\3\
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    \1\ See DOS fact sheet, ``In-Country Refugee/Parole Program for 
Minors in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras With Parents Lawfully 
Present in the United States'' (Nov. 14, 2014), available at https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/prm/releases/factsheets/2014/234067.htm; see 
also U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web page, ``In-
Country Refugee/Parole Processing for Minors in Honduras, El 
Salvador, and Guatemala (Central American Minors--CAM),'' available 
at https://www.uscis.gov/CAM.
    \2\ ``Lawful presence'' refers to presence in the United States 
within a period of stay authorized by DHS and during which unlawful 
presence is not accrued for purposes of potential inadmissibility 
under INA sec. 212(a)(9)(B)-(C); 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9)(B)-(C). Note 
that an individual may be ``lawfully present'' in the United States 
without necessarily having ``lawful status'' (e.g., an individual 
granted deferred enforced departure, see 8 CFR 274a.12(a)(11)). See, 
e.g., Chaudry v. Holder, 705 F.3d 289, 292 (7th Cir. 2013) 
(``[Unlawful presence and unlawful status are distinct concepts . . 
. . It is entirely possible for aliens to be lawfully present (i.e., 
in a ``period of stay authorized by the [Secretary]'') even though 
their lawful status has expired.''). Under the program, qualifying 
parents include individuals who are at least 18 years of age and 
lawfully present in the United States in the following categories: 
lawful permanent resident status, temporary protected status, 
parolee, deferred action, deferred enforced departure, or 
withholding of removal.
    \3\ Beginning with the program's inception in December 2014, 
additional qualifying relatives have been able to gain access along 
with the qualifying child. Unmarried children of the qualifying 
child who are under 21 years of age can be included on the 
qualifying child's refugee application as a derivative beneficiary. 
The in-country parent of the qualifying child can also qualify for 
access to the CAM program if the in-country parent is part of the 
same household and economic unit as the qualifying child and is the 
legal spouse of the qualifying parent who is lawfully present in the 
United States. If the in-country parent who is legally married to 
the qualifying parent has unmarried children under 21 years of age 
who are not the children of the qualifying parent, these children 
can be added as derivatives of the in-country parent.
    In July 2016, the CAM program expanded to include the following 
additional categories of relatives who are able to apply for 
admission to the United States as refugees when accompanied by a 
qualifying child: (1) The in-country biological parent of a 
qualifying child who is not legally married to the qualifying parent 
in the United States may apply, and the unmarried and under 21 years 
of age children and/or legal spouse of the in-country parent can 
also be included as derivatives of the in-country parent; (2) the 
caregiver of a qualifying child who is related to either the 
qualifying parent in the United States or the qualifying child may 
apply, and the unmarried and under 21 years of age children and/or 
legal spouse of the caregiver can also be included as derivatives of 
the caregiver; (3) the married and/or 21 years of age or older 
children of the qualifying parent (who is lawfully present in the 
United States) may apply, and (4) the unmarried and under 21 years 
of age children and legal spouse of the married and/or 21 years of 
age or older child can also be included as derivatives. See 
Department of State, Central American Minors (CAM) Program, https://www.state.gov/j/prm/ra/cam/index.htm. At the time of the program's 
original announcement and later expansion, these qualifying 
relatives of the qualifying child could also be considered for 
parole on a case-by-case basis, if found ineligible for refugee 
admission and the accompanying qualifying child received a positive 
decision of refugee status or parole. The various categories of 
individuals who may be afforded access to the CAM Refugee Program 
are subject to change in accordance with the priorities of the U.S. 
Refugee Program.
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    Qualifying children who were denied refugee status under the CAM 
Refugee Program were considered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services (USCIS), a component of DHS, for parole into the United States 
on a case-by-case basis under the CAM Parole Program. A qualifying 
child's accompanying parent, sibling, or child who was also denied 
refugee status was also considered for parole into the United States on 
a case-by-case basis under the program. If USCIS found a child to be 
ineligible for refugee status, the decision notice informed the child 
of whether he or she had been instead conditionally approved for parole 
into the United States under the CAM Parole Program.
    The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) confers upon the 
Secretary of Homeland Security the discretionary authority to parole 
applicants for admission into the United States ``temporarily under 
such conditions as [DHS] may prescribe only on a case-by-case basis for 
urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit,'' regardless 
of the individuals' admissibility. INA sec. 212(d)(5)(A); 8 U.S.C. 
1182(d)(5)(A); see 8 CFR 212.5(a) and (c) through (e) (discretionary 
authority for establishing conditions of parole and for terminating 
parole). Accordingly, parole determinations are made on a case-by-case 
basis, taking into account each individual's unique circumstances.
    In general, if USCIS favorably exercises its discretion to 
authorize parole, either USCIS or DOS issues

[[Page 38927]]

travel documents to enable the applicant to travel to a U.S. port-of-
entry and request parole from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 
to join his or her family member. The ultimate determination whether to 
parole an individual into the United States is made by CBP officers 
upon the individual's arrival at a U.S. port of entry.
    Unlike refugee status, parole does not lead to any immigration 
status. Parole also does not constitute an admission to the United 
States. INA secs. 101(a)(13)(B), 212(d)(5)(A); 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(13)(B), 
1182(d)(5)(A). Once an individual is paroled into the United States, 
the parole allows the individual to stay temporarily in the United 
States and to apply for employment authorization. See 8 CFR 
274a.12(c)(11). The alien may stay in the United States unless and 
until the parole is terminated. See 8 CFR 212.5(e).
    The CAM Parole Program was established based on the Secretary's 
discretionary parole authority and the broad authority to administer 
the immigration laws. See INA secs. 103(a), 212(d)(5); 8 U.S.C. 
1103(a), 1182(d)(5). DHS is rescinding the discretionary CAM parole 
policy, which was instituted for ``significant public benefit'' 
reasons, of automatically considering parole for all individuals found 
ineligible for refugee status under the in-country refugee program in 
Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador. This discretionary change in 
policy does not preclude such individuals from applying for parole 
consideration independent of the CAM program by filing USCIS Form I-
131, Application for Travel Document, consistent with the instructions 
for that form. Parole will only be issued on a case-by-case basis and 
only where the applicant demonstrates an urgent humanitarian or a 
significant public benefit reason for parole and that applicant merits 
a favorable exercise of discretion. Any alien may request parole to 
travel to the United States, but an alien does not have a right to 
parole.
    As of August 16, 2017, USCIS will no longer consider or authorize 
parole under the CAM Parole Program. In addition, USCIS will notify 
individuals who have been conditionally approved for parole under this 
program and who have not yet traveled that the program has been 
terminated and their conditional approval for parole has been 
rescinded. As noted above, such individuals may apply for parole 
consideration independent of the CAM program by filing USCIS Form I-
131, Application for Travel Document, consistent with the instructions 
for that form.
    Although DHS is terminating the CAM Parole Program, individuals who 
have been paroled into the United States under the CAM Parole program 
will maintain parole until the expiration of that period of parole 
unless there are other grounds for termination of parole under DHS 
regulations at 8 CFR 212.5(e). CAM parolees already in the United 
States also may apply for re-parole on Form I-131 before their current 
parole period expires or apply for any immigration status for which 
they may be otherwise eligible. They are encouraged to submit any 
requests for re-parole at least 90 days before expiration of their 
period for parole. USCIS will consider each request for re-parole based 
on the merits of each application and may re-parole individuals who 
demonstrate urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public 
benefit.
    The termination of the CAM Parole Program does not affect the CAM 
Refugee Program and its operation.
    General information about applying for parole by filing a Form I-
131 may be found at https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarianparole.

Elaine C. Duke,
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2017-16828 Filed 8-15-17; 11:15 am]
 BILLING CODE 9111-97-P