Judge Orders USCIS to Resume Processing Immigration Benefits for Humanitarian Parolees
The agency has been ordered by a judge to resume immigration processing for parolees from Ukraine, CHNV and other humanitarian programs.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has resumed adjudication of immigration applications filed by individuals who entered the country through humanitarian parole programs, including Uniting for Ukraine (U4U), after a federal court order mandated the agency to lift a months-long administrative freeze.
A new USCIS policy memorandum, issued June 9, 2025, “instructs USCIS officers to adjudicate all pending benefits request filed by aliens who are or were paroled into the United States under Uniting for Ukraine (U4U), the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV Parole Program), and Family Reunification Parole (FRP) processes to a final agency action once USCIS has completed the additional vetting requirement for the parolees’ individual requests.”
The memorandum also “authorizes USCIS officers to resume processing requests for re-parole and associated benefits for aliens paroled through a categorical parole program which were previously paused,” according to an affidavit filed by acting deputy director of USCIS Kika Scott in the ongoing Svitlana Doe v. Noem litigation.
The new directive follows a May 28, 2025 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, which required USCIS to “resume nationwide processing of immigration benefits applications filed by individuals who had entered the United States pursuant to special parole programs.” These programs include U4U, Operation Allies Welcome, Central American Minors Parole, FRP, CHNV, and Military Parole-in-Place.
Previously, USCIS had frozen all applications filed by parolees under a February 14, 2025 policy that implemented an “immediate USCIS-wide administrative hold on all pending benefit requests filed by aliens who are or were paroled into the United States under the U4U, CHNV, or FRP processes.” The agency said the pause would remain in effect “pending the completion of the required screening and vetting . . . to identify any fraud, public safety, or national security concerns.”
That freeze had blocked access to key immigration benefits, including asylum, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), advance parole travel documents, permanent residence, and naturalization.
The policy reversal brings “welcome relief for employers of parolees with humanitarian parole-related immigration status,” especially those with employees eligible for work authorization or other immigration benefits.
Now, individuals “can apply for and receive adjudication of additional benefits, including work permits, and other forms of immigration relief, such as adjustment of status applications, TPS applications, asylum applications, or re-parole applications that enable them to continue to maintain their parole status.”
For CHNV parolees, even though the program has been terminated and work authorization under it revoked, “if these parolees filed for other immigration benefits prior to the termination, they could be eligible to remain in the United States on that basis and could possibly be employment-authorized as well.”
Employers are encouraged to consider whether to “support qualifying parolee employees with filings for additional immigration benefits related to work authorization.” USCIS accounts may now reflect “approval notices or Requests for Evidence” for previously frozen applications.
However, stakeholders are warned that “time is of the essence for any new immigration applications” as “it is likely that the decision will be appealed by the federal government and that the status quo could change quickly with the rapid rate of policy changes.”