Trump’s Revocation of Protected Status – A Final Political Spark?

The decision came late in the evening, but its impact was immediate: On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, under Secretary Kristi Noem, announced that hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela must leave the country. Their residence and work permits were revoked with immediate effect – by email, impersonal and final. The individuals affected, many of whom have been integrated for months or even years, are part of a humanitarian parole program introduced by the Biden administration in 2022. Now, they are to leave the country – with an app, a return ticket, and $1,000 in cash. But behind the bureaucratic language lies more than just an administrative procedure. Observers and human rights organizations warn: This measure comes not only at the wrong time – it appears deliberately escalatory, like a political spark in an already overheated climate.

The announcement comes amid a wave of growing protests across the country, particularly in California, where thousands have taken to the streets in opposition to Trump’s harsh deportation policy. In Tucson and Los Angeles, clashes between demonstrators and security forces have already erupted in recent days. That precisely now 532,000 people are being declared "unwanted" with immediate effect seems to be more than mere bureaucratic timing – it feels like a provocation by design. "These people followed all the rules," says Krish O’Mara Vignarajah of the organization Global Refuge. "They were vetted, paid for their own travel, obtained work authorization, and began building a new life." And now? Now they are being told to disappear – using an app called CBP Home, which the department says also serves as a departure tool. Those who leave voluntarily are promised money upon arrival in their home country. But how the U.S. government intends to ensure that people receive these payments – or how it plans to find those who do not leave voluntarily – remains unclear.

For people like Zamora, a 34-year-old mother from Cuba, it is a nightmare. "I’m afraid of being arrested while my son is at school," she says. She entered the U.S. legally in 2023 with a sponsor. Now she fears returning to Cuba, where conditions remain critical. She is relying on the Cuban Adjustment Act, hoping for a pathway to permanent residency – and is stepping back from her job at a clinic as a precaution. "I’m just going to wait quietly without causing any trouble," she says softly. But these days, few people remain quiet. Legally, Trump’s decision is also controversial. While the Supreme Court recently allowed the end of the humanitarian program, human rights groups, members of Congress, and states like California view the current implementation as an assault on both the Constitution and basic human dignity.

And so the impression remains that President Trump may not simply be seeking control – but confrontation. Half a million deportations in one sweeping move, just days after the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles and the arrest of a senator during a protest – this does not look like an attempt to bring peace to the country. It looks like an attempt to provoke an uprising – in order to crush it with full force.

There is more than enough political tinder. The only question is who will strike the match – and how far the flames will spread.