Immigration experts say JD Vance is wrong. Haitians under temporary programs are in the US legally

CBS News moderators muted vice presidential candidates’ microphones only once during the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate: during a discussion about immigration. Specifically, when they were on the topic of immigration in Springfield, Ohio — the small midwestern city thrown into the national spotlight after former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, spread baseless claims about immigrants eating pets.

The point in question: Are Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, in the U.S. illegally?

Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., criticized Vance for spreading misinformation about Springfield’s Haitian immigrants. Moderators gave Vance a minute to respond.

"In Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you've got schools that are overwhelmed, you've got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes," Vance said.

Walz spoke again before moderator and CBS News’ "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan stepped in. 

"And just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status: Temporary Protected Status," Brennan said.

"Margaret, The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact check, and since you're fact- checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on," Vance responded. "So there's an application called the CBP One app where you can go on as an illegal migrant, apply for asylum or apply for parole and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand. That is not a person coming in, applying for a green card and waiting for 10 years."

We rated Vance’s statement about the phone app, which is a scheduling tool, not an application for asylum or parole, Mostly False.

For this claim, we’ll focus on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, whom city officials say account for most of the immigrants who have settled there in the past four years: Are they in the U.S. legally? 

We can’t confirm the status of every immigrant who has recently moved to the city. But local and state officials said most are there legally, because they’re in the U.S. under temporary legal protections, humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status. 

Immigration law experts told PolitiFact that Haitians in these temporary programs are in the U.S. legally.

Vance’s spokesperson did not respond to our request for comment. But Vance has previously said about Haitian migrants: "If Kamala Harris waves a wand, illegally, and says these people are now here legally, I'm still going to call them illegal aliens."

President Joe Biden has created and expanded ways for Haitians, and other immigrants, to temporarily live and work in the U.S. legally. 

Humanitarian parole for applicants outside the U.S.: In January 2023, Biden expanded a humanitarian parole program for Venezuelans to include Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans. Under the program, every month, up to 30,000 eligible people can receive humanitarian parole, allowing them to legally enter the U.S. and live and work here for up to two years. To qualify for the program, people need to apply from outside the U.S. and have a U.S. sponsor, such as a family member. 

As of August, nearly 214,000 Haitians had entered the U.S. under this humanitarian parole.

Featured Fact-check

Donald Trump

stated on September 18, 2024 in a speech in New York

When Haitians go to school in Springfield, Ohio, they “take the place of our children in school” and “each one will have a private interpreter."

Temporary Protected Status: In June 2024, the Biden administration expanded and redesignated Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants. People who have Temporary Protected Status are protected from deportation. This protection is granted by the Homeland Security secretary to people from certain countries undergoing war, environmental disasters and epidemics. The program also allows eligible immigrants to legally live and work in the U.S. for six- to 18-month periods. Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries must be in the U.S. at the time of their home country’s designation to apply.

Before the June redesignation, about 200,000 Haitians benefited from the temporary protection. The June action allowed any Haitian who met eligibility requirements and had been living in the U.S. by June 3, 2024, to apply. DHS estimated 309,000 additional Haitians would be eligible.

People can apply for Temporary Protected Status whether they entered the U.S. legally or illegally.

Humanitarian parole at U.S. ports of entry: In January 2023, Biden expanded the use of CBP One, the scheduling phone application launched by the Trump administration, to allow people in Mexico to schedule appointments at official U.S. ports of entry. There, immigration officials can give people humanitarian parole for up to two years, allowing them to live and work in the U.S. as they apply for asylum. From January 2023 to May 2024, 119,000 Haitians scheduled appointments using the app; we don’t know how many were granted this parole.

These programs give Haitians a lawful status in the U.S.

The Immigration and Nationality Act describes people on Temporary Protected Status as "being in, and maintaining, lawful status as a nonimmigrant." The term "nonimmigrant" refers to people who are in the U.S. temporarily.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says on its website that people with humanitarian parole or Temporary Protected Status have "lawful immigration status." Immigration law gives the executive branch the authority to grant people these protections, Jean Reisz, co-director of the University of Southern California Immigration Clinic said.

We asked the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency within the department, about the immigration status of people with Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole. But we did not hear back.

But immigration law experts said that, once immigrants have Temporary Protected Status protections, they are in the U.S. legally — regardless of how they entered the U.S. prior to receiving it.

However, Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole do not provide people a pathway to citizenship. So people with humanitarian parole or Temporary Protected Status must use another avenue — such as asylum, marriage or employment — to gain legal permanent residence.

That leaves people who have these protections in a "precarious non-permanent status" that can expire or be ended by the president, Reisz said. In November 2017, for example, Trump tried to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. Legal challenges halted the termination. Trump is again promising to revoke Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status, if elected.

If protections expire or are terminated, people revert back to the status they had before these protections, Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of University of California Los Angeles’ Center for Immigration Law and Policy said. And people who don’t have a legal basis to stay in the U.S. would have to leave the country or be subject to deportation, Reisz said.

But that deportation wouldn’t be immediate, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, Cornell University  immigration law professor.

"They would all have a right to a removal hearing before an immigration judge to determine whether they have some right to remain here, such as asylum," Yale-Loehr said. That could take years because of immigration court backlogs.

Vance said immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are "illegal immigrants."

City officials say most of the immigrants who recently arrived in Springfield are Haitians. We don’t know the immigration status for all of them, but officials have said that many are in the country under humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status. These protections allow them to temporarily live and work in the country legally. Both humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status are considered lawful statuses under immigration law, immigration experts said.

Neither program lets people stay permanently in the U.S. But while the temporary protection is in place, they are not here illegally, immigration experts said.

We rate Vance’s claim False.