Those migrants have been warned to leave the country before their permits and deportation shield are cancelled on 24 April, according to a notice posted by the federal government.

The 530,000 migrants were brought into the US under a Biden-era sponsorship process known as CHNV that was designed to open legal migration pathways. Trump suspended the programme once he took office.

It is unclear how many of these migrants have been able to secure another status in the interim that would allow them to stay in the US legally.

The programme was launched under Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022, first covering Venezuelans before it was expanded to other countries.

It allowed the migrants and their immediate family members to fly into the US if they had American sponsors and remain for two years under a temporary immigration status known as parole.

The Biden administration had argued that CHNV would help curb illegal crossings at the southern US border and allow for better vetting of those entering the country.

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday rebuked the prior administration and said the programme had failed in its goals.

The agency’s statement said Biden officials had “granted them [migrants] opportunities to compete for American jobs and undercut American workers; forced career civil servants to promote the programs even when fraud was identified; and then blamed Republicans in Congress for the chaos that ensued and the crime that followed”.

However, the 35-page notice in the Federal Register said some of those in the US under CHNV might be allowed to remain on a “case-by-case basis”.

Karen Tumlin, founder of the Justice Action Center in California, said her organisation is set to challenge the move in court.

She told the BBC the decision hurt people “who did everything right that the US Government asked of them”, adding that “their sponsors in the United States paid the fees, filled out the government paperwork, waited in line”.

“To say ‘oh, we’re so sorry, even if you had 18 months left on your grant of permission to be here we’re going to pull the rug out from under you in the next 30 days,’ it’s really quite surprising.”

Trump is also considering whether to cancel the temporary legal status of some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the US during the conflict with Russia.

CHNV helped a reported 213,000 Haitians enter the US amid deteriorating conditions in the Caribbean country.

More than 120,700 Venezuelans, 110,900 Cubans and over 93,000 Nicaraguans were also allowed into the US under the programme before Trump shut it down.

Last month, DHS announced it would in August end another immigration designation, temporary protected status (TPS), for 500,000 Haitians living in the US.

TPS was granted to nationals of designated countries facing unsafe conditions, such as armed conflict or environmental disasters.

DHS also halted TPS for Venezuelans in the US, although this is facing a legal challenge.

Since taking office in January, Trump’s immigration policies have encountered a number of legal hurdles.

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national, is a postdoctoral fellow studying and teaching at the prestigious Washington DC institution on a student visa.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused him of “spreading Hamas propaganda” and having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist”.

Mr Suri’s lawyer and employer have denied the allegation. His lawyer said in a court filing that his client was targeted because of his wife’s “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech”.

In an order on Thursday, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said Mr Suri “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court issues a contrary order”.

In a sworn statement, his wife Mapheze Saleh said the detention “has completely upended our lives” and appealed to the court to allow Mr Suri to return home to his family.

“Our children are in desperate need of their father and miss him dearly,” she said. “As a mother of three children, I desperately need his support to take care of them and me.”

His arrest follows the detention or deportation of other foreign students and academics, including Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent Palestinian activist.

Mr Suri was arrested outside his home in northern Virginia on Monday night by masked immigration agents, according to legal filings seen by CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

He was told the agents were with DHS, the filings say, and they informed him the government had revoked his visa and he was now facing expulsion from the country.

Mr Suri was taken to Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana where he is being held, according to US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at DHS, said on X that Mr Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media”.

She accused him of having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas” without providing any further detail.

Mr Suri’s father-in-law is a former adviser to killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the Washington Post and New York Times reported.

In her court statement, Ms Saleh said her father lived in the US for nearly 20 years while pursuing a master’s and PhD. “Afterward, he served as political advisor to the Prime Minister of Gaza and as the deputy of foreign affairs in Gaza,” she said.

Ms Saleh said he left the Gaza government in 2010 and “started the House of Wisdom in 2011 to encourage peace and conflict resolution in Gaza”.

Mr Suri’s court filings allege that he and his wife Mapheze Saleh – a US citizen of Palestinian descent – had “long been doxxed and smeared” online by an “anonymously-run blacklisting site”.

The BBC has contacted Mr Suri’s lawyer for more details.

A spokesman for Georgetown University told the BBC that Mr Suri had been “granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan”.

The institution was “not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention”.

“We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable,” the spokesman said. “We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”

In her post on X, Ms McLaughlin said Secretary of State Marco Rubio “issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable”.

The BBC has contacted DHS to request more detail on the allegations against Mr Suri, and also asked the Indian embassy in Washington DC for comment.

Several students and academics have been investigated by US immigration officials in recent weeks, accusing them of advocating for “violence and terrorism”.

Khalil, a Columbia graduate and permanent US resident, was arrested on 8 March after being involved in pro-Palestinian protests on campus. He was accused of having ties to Hamas, which he denies.

Columbia student Leqaa Kordia, who is a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested for “overstaying her student visa”. She had previously been arrested in April 2024 for taking part in protests at Columbia University, according to DHS.

Ranjani Srinivasan, another Columbia University student, chose to “self-deport”. Officials said her student visa was revoked on 5 March. Her lawyers say she attended a handful of protests and had shared or liked social media posts related to Palestinians in Gaza.

Brown University professor and kidney transplant specialist Rasha Alawieh, who is Lebanese, was deported after arriving at Boston airport. US officials said they found “photos and videos” on her cell phone that were “sympathetic” to the former longtime leader of Hezbollah and militants.

According to a transcript of her interview reviewed by Reuters, she told customs officials she did not support Hezbollah but had high regard for its leader because of her religion.

“I’m not a political person,” she said. “I’m a physician. It’s mainly about faith.”

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national, is a postdoctoral fellow studying and teaching at the prestigious Washington DC institution on a student visa.

He is accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda” and having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist” by the Department of Homeland Security, but US authorities have not provided evidence for that claim.

Mr Suri’s lawyer and employer have denied the allegation. His lawyer said in a court filing that his client was targeted because of his wife’s “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech”.

Mr Suri was arrested outside his home in Northern Virginia on Monday night by masked immigration agents, according to legal filings by his lawyer seen by multiple US media outlets.

He was told the agents were with the Department of Homeland Security, the filings say, and they informed him the government had revoked his visa and he was now facing expulsion from the country.

Mr Suri was taken to Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana where he is being held, according to US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The facility is used to hold detainees awaiting deportation for 72 hours.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said on X that Mr Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media”.

She accused him of having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas”.

According to outlets including the Associated Press and Politico, Mr Suri’s lawyer argued in the court filings that his client was being punished for his wife’s Palestinian heritage and his perceived opposition to US foreign policy toward Israel.

The BBC has contacted his lawyer for comment. The court filings were not available on Thursday morning.

A spokesman for Georgetown University told the BBC that Mr Suri had been “granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan”.

The institution was “not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention”.

“We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable,” the spokesman said. “We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”

In her post on X, Ms McLaughlin said Secretary of State Marco Rubio “issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable”.

The BBC has contacted the Department of Homeland Security to request more detail on the allegations against Mr Suri.

His arrest comes as legal fights continue over the detentions of a graduate from Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, and a doctor from Lebanon. Mr Khalil, a permanent US resident, was involved in pro-Palestinian protests on campus and accused of having ties to Hamas, which he denies.

Several other academics, including Columbia student Leqaa Kordia and Brown university Professor Rasha Alawieh, have also faced detention and scrutiny from US immigration authorities in recent weeks.

District Judge Carl Nichols ordered the release of the documents based on a freedom of information (FOI) request by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative US think tank in Washington DC.

The foundation alleges that the prince concealed his past use of drugs, which should have disqualified him from obtaining a US visa.

The allegations centre around the Duke of Sussex’s claims in his memoir Spare, where he referred to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.

In the book, published in January 2023, Prince Harry wrote that he first tried cocaine at the age of 17.

“It wasn’t much fun, and it didn’t make me particularly happy, as it seemed to make everyone around me, but it did make me feel different, and that was the main goal,” he added.

He also wrote about using marijuana, saying “cocaine didn’t do anything for me”, but “marijuana is different, that actually really did help me”.

Application forms for US visas specifically ask about current and past drug use.

Admissions of drug use can lead to non-immigrant and immigrant visa applications being rejected, although immigration officers have discretion to make a final decision based on different factors.

The Heritage Foundation alleges that Prince Harry lied about his use of drugs to US immigration authorities, which can lead to a lifetime ban from the United States.

According to court records, the Department of Homeland Security has until the end of Tuesday to comply with the order and release the immigration records.

The BBC has contacted the White House and the duke’s office for comment.

The court’s ruling comes after a 2024 ruling by the same judge which said that there was not enough public interest in disclosing Prince Harry’s immigration records.

The Heritage Foundation contested that ruling and pushed for the judgement to be changed.

Prince Harry moved to the US with his wife Meghan in 2020 after stepping down as a working royal. It is not clear what visa he entered the country on, while the duchess is a US citizen.

President Donald Trump previously ruled out deporting Prince Harry in February, telling the New York Post “I’ll leave him alone… He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”

Meghan has been a vocal critic of Trump in the past, labelling him a “misogynist”.

A US federal judge has questioned why the Trump administration failed to obey his order halting the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members.

James Boasberg, the top federal judge in Washington DC, ordered deportation flights to be turned around on Saturday night.

White House officials argued in a court filing that they did not defy the ruling. The argued in part that because Boasberg’s order was made orally rather than in written form, it was not enforceable – and that the planes had already left the US by the time it was issued.

Boasberg has ordered the administration to give further details about the deportations by noon (16:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

He has requested further details about the timing of the order under which the deportations occurred, as well as details about the flights themselves.

During a hearing on Monday, Boasberg said he clearly ordered the government to turn the planes around.

“You’re saying that you felt you could disregard it because it wasn’t in a written order?” he asked Department of Justice lawyers.

In the same hearing on Monday, the judge said he would not make another ruling in the case until a hearing scheduled for Friday.

In the meantime, government lawyers said that the deportations had been paused. The Trump administration also asked in a court motion that Boasberg be removed from the case.

The dispute began over the weekend when a group of 238 alleged Venezuelan gang members, plus 23 alleged members of the international MS-13 gang, were sent from the US to a prison in El Salvador.

Announcing the move on Saturday, Trump accused the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) of “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States”.

He cited the Alien Enemies Act – legislation dating to 1798 that allows non-citizens to be deported in wartime. The act was last used during World War Two, when it was invoked to arrest and deport citizens of Axis countries.

Campaign groups have questioned Trump’s justification.

The act was used as the basis to deport 137 of the total of 261 people who were deported, the White House said on Monday. The basis on which the other deportees were removed from the US is unclear.

On Saturday, during the hearing that took place as several of the deportation flights were in the air, Boasberg ordered a 14-day pause.

After lawyers told the judge that planes with deportees already had taken off, he reportedly gave a verbal order for the flights to turn back “immediately”, although that directive was not included in a written ruling published shortly thereafter.

Nonetheless, a timeline of events reported by US media suggests the Trump administration had the opportunity to stop at least some of the deportations.

Under the US system of checks and balances, government agencies are expected to comply with a federal judge’s ruling.

But Trump’s Department of Justice argued, citing case law in a filing on Monday, that “an oral directive is not enforceable as an injunction”.

Administration officials also pointed out that the five named plaintiffs in the lawsuit that prompted the hearing were not among those deported, and also argued that once the flights left US airspace, the judge’s powers no longer applied.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order.”

Neither the US government nor El Salvador has named those who have been deported, or provided details of their alleged criminality or gang membership.

Several relatives of men believed to be among the group told the New York Times that their loved ones did not have gang ties.

The White House, for its part, has insisted that authorities are “sure” that the detainees were gang members, based on intelligence.

Trump’s border tsar, Tom Homan, told reporters at the White House on Monday that Trump did “exactly the right thing”.

“The plane was already over international waters with a plane full of terrorists and significant public safety threats,” he said.

“We removed terrorists. That should be celebrated in this country.

El Salvador has agreed to accept the deportees from the US.

The country’s president, Nayib Bukele, appeared to mock the judge’s ruling.

“Oopsie… Too late,” he posted on social media, along with a picture of a headline announcing the ruling and a ‘crying with laughter’ emoji.

His team also published footage of some of the detainees inside one of its mega-jails.

According to the White House, El Salvador’s government received $6m (£4.62m) to take the detainees, which Leavitt said “is pennies on the dollar” compared to the cost of holding inmates in US prisons.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which brought the lawsuit leading to the judge’s order, questioned Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, a sweeping wartime authority that allows fast-track deportations.

“I think we’re in very dangerous territory here in the United States with the invocation of this law,” said the ACLU’s Lee Gelernt.

The Alien Enemies Act only allowed deportations when the US was in a declared war with that foreign government, or was being invaded, Mr Gelernt said.

“A gang is not invading,” he told BBC News.

Making matters worse was the fact “the administration is saying nobody can review what they’re doing”, Mr Gelernt added.

Amnesty International USA said the deportations were “yet another example of the Trump administration’s racist targeting” of Venezuelans “based on sweeping claims of gang affiliation”.

Venezuela itself criticised Trump, saying he “unjustly criminalises Venezuelan migration”.

The latest deportations under Trump’s second term are part of the president’s long-running campaign against illegal immigration.

The two gangs targeted with the weekend deportations were declared “foreign terrorist organisations” by Trump after returning to the White House in January.

Timeline of the 15 March deportations

• 17:25 EDT: A first flight believed to be carrying deportees leaves Texas, according to data from tracking site Flightradar24. Take off happens while a hearing held by Judge Boasberg is paused. Earlier that afternoon, the White House said Trump was invoking the Alien Enemies Act
• 17:44 EDT: A second flight believed to be carrying deportees leaves Texas, according to Flightradar24
• 18:05 EDT: Boasberg’s hearing resumes
• 18:46 EDT: During the hearing, Boasberg verbally orders the government to turn around the two planes if they are carrying non-citizens, saying: “Any plane containing these folks – because it’s going to take off or it’s in the air – needs to be returned to the United States… This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately”
• 19:26 EDT: Boasberg issues his written ruling which includes a temporary restraining order on any further flights
• 19:36 EDT: A third flight believed to be carrying deportees leaves Texas, according to Flightradar24

The app, known as CBP Home, allows migrants to submit an “intent to depart”, which US Customs and Border Patrol says offers them a chance to leave without “harsher consequences”.

US officials have repeatedly suggested that undocumented migrants in the country should leave voluntarily, rather than be arrested and subject to deportation.

This is the latest move in the White House’s effort to dramatically overhaul the US immigration system, which has included promises of mass detentions.

Originally launched as CBP One in 2020, the mobile application was expanded during the Biden administration to allow prospective migrants to book appointments to appear at a port of entry.

At the time, officials credited the application with helping reduce detentions at the border and portrayed the technology as part of a larger effort to protect asylum seekers making the often dangerous journey.

Now, on the newly rebranded application, undocumented migrants identify themselves and declare their intention to leave the country.

In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that by self-deporting through the app, migrants “may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream”.

“If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return,” she added.

The app also asks migrants whether they have “enough money to depart the United States” and whether they have a “valid, unexpired passport from your original country of citizenship”.

The BBC has contacted DHS for further details about how the process works once the forms on the app are filled out.

CBP Home can also be used to apply and pay for I-94 entry and exit cards up to seven days before travel, book inspections for perishable cargo and check wait times at US border crossings.

According to DHS, the app is meant to complement a $200m (£155m) domestic and international ad campaign calling for undocumented migrants to “stay out and leave now”.

The Trump administration moved quickly to scrap the CBP One app as part of a larger shift in immigration strategy. It also paused parole programmes, and an uptick in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the country followed.

In late February, the administration said it would create a national registry for undocumented migrants and those failing to sign up could possibly face criminal prosecution.

The registration requires any undocumented migrants above the age of 14 to provide the US government an address and their fingerprints.

Experts said that the registration system will face hurdles, as it is difficult to enforce and fraught with logistical challenges.

Trump on Saturday proclaimed immigrants belonging to the Venezuelan crime gang Tren de Aragua were “conducting irregular warfare” against the US and that he would deport them under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

But US District Judge James Boasberg on Saturday evening ordered a halt to deportations covered by the proclamation that will last for 14 days, according to media reports.

Judge Boasberg told a hearing he had heard planes with deportees were taking off and ordered them turned back, the Washington Post reported.

The law allows the US during wartime to detain and remove people threatening the country’s safety without having to follow due process. It was last invoked to intern people of Japanese descent during World War Two.

There was little surprise to the proclamation on Saturday, where Trump declared Tren de Aragua was “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States”.

He had promised to use the controversial law for mass deportations during last year’s campaign.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other rights group had already sued to block him from using it on Saturday before he issued the proclamation, as well.

At a hearing, the judge said the terms “invasion” and “predatory incursion” in the law “really relate to hostile acts perpetrated by enemy nations,” and the law probably did not offer a good basis for Trump’s proclamation, according to the New York Times.

An ACLU lawyer had told the New York Times he believed there were two planes of Venezuelan immigrants in the air on Sunday. The BBC has not verified that report.

The case will now move through the legal system and could go all the way to the Supreme Court.

The proclamation, and the fight around it, should rally Trump’s supporters, who largely returned him to the White House on his pledges to crack down on illegal immigration and bring down prices of everyday goods. Since he was inaugurated in January, he has swiftly worked to overhaul the US immigration system.

Rights groups, along with some legal experts, are calling the invocation unprecedented, noting the Alien Enemies Act has been used in the past after the US officially declared war against other countries. Under the constitution, only Congress can declare war.

All Venezuelan citizens in the US who are at least 14 years old, members of Tren de Aragua and “are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents” were to be “apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies”, under Trump’s order.

Trump did not lay out in the proclamation how US officials would determine that a person is a member of the violent, transnational gang.

By using this law, instead of immigration laws that already give him “ample authority” to deport the gang’s members, Trump would not have to prove that detainees are part of Tren de Aragua, said Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice in a statement.

“He wants to bypass any need to provide evidence or to convince a judge that someone is actually a gang member before deporting them,” she said.

“The only reason to invoke such a power is to try to enable sweeping detentions and deportations of Venezuelans based on their ancestry, not on any gang activity that could be proved in immigration proceedings.”

According to US media reports, all the remaining migrants detained there were transported to another immigration facility in Louisiana.

In February, a separate group of migrants were abruptly moved from the facility after only a few weeks.

Shortly after taking office in January, President Donald Trump ordered that an existing facility used to hold migrants in Guantanamo Bay be expanded to hold some 30,000 people.

But so far, only a few hundred appear to have been sent there.

It is unclear why the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has brought the latest group of migrants held at Guantanamo back to the US. It declined the BBC’s request for comment.

The move, however, comes just days before a federal judge is due to hear a legal challenge on the legality of the federal government’s move to send migrants to Guantanamo, in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of human rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union.

US media report that 40 migrants were flown from Guantanamo to Alexandria in Louisiana on Tuesday and Wednesday, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has a processing facility.

A facility used to hold migrants at Guantanamo, called the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center, has been used by both Republican and Democratic administrations for decades – a practice long-criticised by some human rights groups.

Another facility, a high-security military prison once used to house detainees suspected of terrorism offences, is also located at Guantanamo.

The Washington Post reports that as of 10 March, 23 migrants were being held in the military detention facility, while 17 others were detained in the Migrant Operations Center, citing a Pentagon official.

Last week, a defence official told the BBC the US military had last received a request from DHS to transport undocumented migrantsto Guantanamo Bayon 1 March, adding that it stood ready to assist if additional flights are requested.

The expansion of the existing migrant centre at Guantanamo is part of a wider effort to dramatically overhaul the US immigration system, which has included promises of mass deportations.

At a signing ceremony early in his term, Trump said that the facility would largely be used to hold undocumented migrants deemed to be dangerous criminals or national security risks.

“Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back,” he said of migrants. “So we’re going to send them to Guantanamo… it’s a tough place to get out.”

The administration’s “border tsar”, Tom Homan, defended the use of the facility as recently as last week and said that plans for its expansion were still under way.

On 4 March, for example, he said the facility was “the perfect place for the worst of the worst” and that plans for its expansion were still in place.

Court documents filed late last week show that about 300 migrants from 27 countries have gone through the facility.

Two separate lawsuits have been filed challenging migrant detention in such facilities.

In one case, a coalition of legal aid organisations is seeking a court order allowing detainees at the facility access to attorneys, including in-person visits.

A second lawsuit directly challenges the legality of transferring migrants detained in the US to Guantanamo.

Becky Burke, 28, has spent 10 days in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing centre in Washington State and was also denied entry into Canada, over a “visa mix-up”, said Paul Burke.

He said Ms Burke got free accommodation for helping host families “around the house”, which he believes authorities may have suspected broke the terms of her tourist visa.

The US Department of Homeland Security has been asked to comment while the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) confirmed it was were supporting a British national.

Mr Burke told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast he could not understand why she was “locked up and she’s in an orange prison jumpsuit whilst the paperwork gets sorted out”.

He said what was meant to be a life-changing backpacking trip “has turned into a nightmare”.

The artist, from Portskewett, Monmouthshire, had flown from New York to Portland, Oregon, where she spent time with a host family, helping with household chores in return for accommodation.

At the end of February she travelled to Seattle with plans to travel to Vancouver in Canada to stay with another family.

However, when she reached the border, Mr Burke said the Canadian authorities denied her entry as they were concerned she may try to work illegally.

Ms Burke’s dad described the situation as a misunderstanding of her accommodation arrangements, which were “just like a cultural exchange”.

When the Canadian authorities took her back over the border, Mr Burke said his daughter was told she was being detained as they considered “that host family cultural exchange to be work”.

“So basically she couldn’t go into Canada, she wasn’t allowed in the US,” he said.

Mr Burke said homeland security took his daughter to an immigration detention centre in Tacoma, Washington, and wanted to warn others to be “very careful” about visa requirements.

Mr Burke said his daughter described the conditions in the immigration centre as “horrendous”.

He added: “At first she was just distraught. She was inconsolable. She is allowed to ring out using a shared iPad but we can’t call her.”

The dad said, as their family is not American, they cannot add money to Ms Burke’s inmate account for her to buy essentials, so they have reached out to some American friends to help.

Mr Burke said his daughter just wants to come home and has asked for voluntary departure but it has been “radio silence”.

The family have been told voluntary departure has to be approved by a judge, but added they do not know “how to make that happen”.

Ms Burke’s parents said they were in daily contact with the British consulate in San Francisco, which is the nearest one to the detention facility, but claimed “official channels can’t get a clear answer about what is going on”.

Melissa Chavin, a US immigration lawyer based in London, said Ms Burke could be released either through voluntary departure or expedited removal, but the process of appearing in front of a judge as part of voluntary departure could be delayed because judges had been fired by the Trump administration.

Ms Chavin said expedited removal – which allows officials to quickly deport non citizens – had been expanded under President Trump and could now happen anywhere in the country as opposed to within 100 miles of the border.

“That could work out well for [Ms Burke] – in that she could leave quicker,” Ms Chavin said, adding that it would also come with a five-year ban on travelling to the United States.

She also urged people travelling to the United States to ensure they can pay for their own accommodation.

Ms Burke had organised some of her trip through Workaway, which matches hosts with travellers.

A spokesperson for the company said it was “very sad” to hear about what had happened but that it was “the responsibility of the host and person travelling to make sure they are within the law, have the correct visa or permit and insurance in place before travelling”.

It said those planning to visit the US to work, volunteer or study needed the correct visa, and should check with the embassy in their country before travelling.

“Unfortunately if these warning are not followed and someone attempts to enter the United States without the correct permissions or visas in place then the US border control are within their rights to refuse entry.”

Ms Burke’s family have been in touch with Monmouthshire MP Catherine Fookes, who has raised the case with Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty.

“I am deeply concerned about my constituent’s welfare and the distress this situation is causing her and her family,” said Ms Fookes.

The MP said her team have been in regular contact with the FCDO and other relevant authorities to “press for urgent action”.

The FCDO confirmed it was supporting a British national detained in the United States and were “in contact with the local authorities”.

Authorities said the people released on Saturday will have the option of extending their stay in Panama up to 90 days if needed, allowing them to begin the legal process for resettlement or voluntary return to their homeland.

The group was released from the Darien, a dangerous jungle region near the border with Colombia and a key transit route for many migrants crossing from South America on foot. They had been in the camp since mid-February after their deportation from the US.

Rights groups argue the release was a way for Panama to wash its hands of responsibility amid mounting human rights criticism.

Many of the released migrants say they were fleeing violence and repression in China, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal, and other countries.

As part of the US administration’s policy of ramping up migrant deportations, Panama reached a deal with Washington under which it received the deported third-country migrants, taking over the responsibility for their repatriation or resettlement.

Immigration advocates and rights groups have denounced the arrangement as cruel, as it allows for the US to export its deportation process.

The agreement also prompted human rights concerns when hundreds of deportees detained in a hotel in Panama City held up notes to their windows pleading for help and saying they were scared to return to their countries.

Under international refugee law, people have the right to apply for asylum when they are fleeing conflict or persecution, and they cannot be forcibly sent back home.

Those deported migrants who refused to return to their home countries, however, were sent to Darien, where they spent weeks in poor conditions, had their phones taken away, were unable to access legal counsel and were not told where they were going next.

Among those who got off one of the buses carrying the released migrants on Saturday was 27-year-old Nikita Gaponov. He fled Russia due to repression for being part of the LGBTQ+ community and said he was detained at the US border but not allowed to make an asylum claim.

Hayatullah Omagh, a 29-year-old who fled Afghanistan in 2022 after the Taliban took control, was released on Saturday and is also in legal limbo, scrambling to find a path forward without having to return to his homeland.

“I can’t go back to Afghanistan under any circumstances … It is under the control of the Taliban, and they want to kill me. How can I go back?”

Panamanian authorities also denied accusations of ill-treatment of the migrants, but blocked journalists from accessing the camp and cancelled a planned press visit last week.