Executive Order 14165 of January 20, 2025: Securing Our Borders. Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8647 (January 30, 2025). Directs a comprehensive effort to secure the U.S. southern border by increasing physical barriers, deploying additional personnel, and expanding detention and removal operations. It also reinstates the Migrant Protection Protocols, restricts the use of categorical parole, and prioritizes the prosecution of immigration-related offenses.

General Policy

Section 2 of the executive order, Policy, states that "

"It is the policy of the United States to take all appropriate action to secure the borders of our Nation through the following means:

(a) Establishing a physical wall and other barriers monitored and supported by adequate personnel and technology;

(b) Deterring and preventing the entry of illegal aliens into the United States;

(c) Detaining, to the maximum extent authorized by law, aliens apprehended on suspicion of violating Federal or State law, until such time as they are removed from the United States;

(d) Removing promptly all aliens who enter or remain in violation of Federal law;

(e) Pursuing criminal charges against illegal aliens who violate the immigration laws, and against those who facilitate their unlawful presence in the United States;

(f) Cooperating fully with State and local law enforcement officials in enacting Federal-State partnerships to enforce Federal immigration priorities; and

(g) Obtaining complete operational control of the borders of the United States."

Parole

Section 7 of the executive order, Adusting Parole Policies, directs DHS to take "all appropriate action to:

(a) Cease using the “CBP One” application as a method of paroling or facilitating the entry of otherwise inadmissible aliens into the United States;

(b) Terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders, including the program known as the “Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.”

NAFSA note: See USCIS archived Frequently Asked Questions About the Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans for background on these "categorical parole programs."

(c) Align all policies and operations at the southern border of the United States to be consistent with the policy of Section 2 of this order and ensure that all future parole determinations fully comply with this order and with applicable law."

Regarding this, a January 24, 2025 CBP Carrier Liaison Program Bulletin tells airlines:

"The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to 'terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States.' The impacted programs include:

• Uniting for Ukraine (U4U)
• Operations Allies Welcome (OAW)
• Family Reunification Parole (FRP)
• Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV)
• Safe Mobility Office (SMO)
• Central American Minor (CAM)

Carriers are reminded that aliens must have a valid visa or other appropriate travel documentation upon arrival in the United States.

This guidance does not apply to those aliens arriving with valid Forms I-512, or those aliens being processed for Significant Public Benefit Parole in coordination with federal law enforcement partners."

The basis for parole authority is in the INA codified at 8 USC 1182(d)(5), which states that:

"The Secretary of Homeland Security may... in his discretion parole into the United States temporarily under such conditions as he may prescribe only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit any alien applying for admission to the United States, but such parole of such alien shall not be regarded as an admission of the alien and when the purposes of such parole shall, in the opinion of the Attorney General, have been served the alien shall forthwith return or be returned to the custody from which he was paroled and thereafter his case shall continue to be dealt with in the same manner as that of any other applicant for admission to the United States."

This section of the executive order focuses on so-called "categorical parole" such as the programs listed in the Carrier Liaison Program Bulletin, because the Administration views these programs as inconsistent with the statutory language that parole to be granted only on "a case-by-case basis."

It is not entirely clear whether this executive order might eventually affect eligibility for issuance of standard "advance parole," often used, for example, for travel authorization while an adjustment of status application is pending. In the meantime, the Carrier Liaison Program Bulletin clarifies that for now, it "does not apply to those aliens arriving with valid Forms I-512."