SAN DIEGO, Aug 27, CMC – The Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) is warning that a new United States Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision could have serious consequences for immigrants who travel abroad under advance parole after accruing unlawful presence in the country.
In Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, the BIA overturned a longstanding 2012 precedent and ruled that leaving the United States under advance parole constitutes a “departure” for purposes of the unlawful-presence bars.
HBA Executive Director Guerline Jozef told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that Caribbean and other immigrants who have accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence could now trigger a three- or 10-year bar upon travelling abroad, even if they possess advance parole.
The ruling applies prospectively to travel occurring after August 13, 2026.
“This decision creates a dangerous trap for immigrants who have been told that advance parole provides a lawful mechanism to travel and return to the United States,” Jozef said.
“Families should not have to choose between seeing loved ones abroad and risking a three- or 10-year separation from the country they call home.”
She urged immigrants not to assume that an approved advance parole document automatically makes international travel safe and advised affected individuals to seek qualified immigration counsel before leaving the United States.
Jozef also condemned as “unconscionable” the Trump administration’s deportation of more than 160 Haitian nationals to Haiti, describing it as the first large-scale deportation flight following the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nearly 350,000 Haitians in the United States.
The deportees arrived in Cap-Haïtien rather than Port-au-Prince, where continuing violence has severely disrupted normal operations.
“This is not simply a question of immigration enforcement,” Jozef said. “We are talking about human beings being sent into a country where more than a million people have already been driven from their homes and where there are security and humanitarian crises.”
She called for a moratorium on deportations to Haiti and urged the US Senate to extend TPS protections.
ozef pointed to United Nations figures showing that nearly 1.5 million Haitians are internally displaced and that 6.4 million people – more than half the country’s population – are expected to require humanitarian assistance in 2026.
She said more than 110,000 Haitian nationals had already been forcibly returned to Haiti since January.
Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has condemned President Donald Trump’s termination of TPS for Haitians and other immigrants as “callous, reckless and inhumane.”
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Hochul said the sudden loss of TPS protections could force state and local governments, as well as private-sector employers, to lose essential workers.
“The sudden removal of these members of our workforce and our communities will impact critical services that New Yorkers rely on – with a particularly heavy impact on the healthcare industry,” Hochul said.
She urged the administration to restore TPS for immigrants who cannot safely return to countries facing extreme instability, violence and humanitarian crises.
New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani also said the city would “do everything in its power” to assist Haitian TPS recipients.
He said affected individuals would have access to free legal consultations to explore other forms of work authorization, as well as assistance with health insurance and other resources.
“The Haitian community is an indispensable part of New York City,” Mamdani said, noting that many TPS holders have lived in the city for decades and made significant contributions to its healthcare, construction and hospitality industries.
Mamdani urged Trump to restore TPS or grant Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to affected Haitians.
CMC/nk/kb/2026