More than 1 million immigrants live in Maryland. But they are not all here under the same terms and conditions.

An estimated 225,000 are undocumented, a prickly term that could be used to describe someone who crossed the border illegally and hasn’t sought a status; a person in the process of applying for status that is yet to be granted; or someone whose status has expired, like when overstaying a visa.

But many others are here under a giant umbrella of temporary student or work visas as well as humanitarian protections — a complicated system facing unprecedented uncertainty as President Donald Trump conducts his immigration crackdown.

His administration has moved to block certain immigration applications to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and repeal birthright citizenship, among other moves. There have also been mistakes: The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week admitted to an “administrative error” in deporting Maryland man with a protected immigration status to El Salvador.

Some of those at greatest peril are people allowed into the country seeking asylum under the administration of former President Joe Biden, said Maureen Sweeney, an immigration law expert at the University of Maryland.

Others who are seeking statuses with yearslong application backlogs, like victims of certain crimes or some children who have been abandoned by a parent, are also facing teeth-grinding anxiety without other pathways available, said Maria Colon, a Towson-based immigration attorney.

“Without these protections, some of the most vulnerable populations would be left without recourse, forced to remain in dangerous situations or live in the shadows without legal status,” she added.

These are some of their stories. The Baltimore Banner is naming most of these individuals by an initial or first name because they expressed fear of retaliation.

Asylum

People who come to the United States seeking protection because they have suffered persecution or fear that they will suffer persecution, due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

D., a 45-year-old Annapolis mother of two children, ages 6 and 18, has lived in Maryland for the past six years and is now seeking asylum from her native El Salvador, according to her family.

A grant of asylum to someone means they meet the same qualifications as a refugee, but the process is different: Asylum seekers apply from within the U.S. or at a point of entry into the country; while refugees apply from outside the country. Each process can take years.

D. was detained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Feb. 19 after delivering an Uber Eats order when GPS took her to the wrong entrance at Fort Meade.

She provided her name, license, and work permit and was taken into custody by ICE, according to her relatives. They said she is being held in a facility in Baltimore where she has not been given hypertension medicine the entire time.

She has not been allowed to see her family, including her youngest son, who is autistic and has separation anxiety, according to her relatives. The asylum seeker was waiting to start a job with the Anne Arundel school system. She recently told her family she was told she was being transferred to Colorado.

Temporary Protected Status

People from countries determined by the government to be unsafe to return due to armed conflict, environmental disaster or other extraordinary conditions.

A. fled Venezuela in 2019 after she was a target of the authoritarian regime, and requested asylum at the U.S.‘s southern border with Mexico. She then passed a “credible fear interview,” often the first step in determining if a person meets the high bar for asylum.

While her case has snaked through the massive asylum backlog, former President Joe Biden in 2023 designated Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status, or TPS.

“That changed everything,” said A.

She then received the formal, though limited, TPS protection while awaiting her asylum hearing. TPS is generally much quicker to approve than asylum but does not offer a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship.

And last month, Trump moved to revoke Venezuela’s TPS designation, removing what she feels is her one true safeguard.

“The first thing I said was, ‘What do I do?’ It’s the only kind of actual status I have right now,” A. said. “How am I going to drive? How am I going to work? And what about my daughter?”

U nonimmigrant status (U visa)

Victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.

E. entered the United States from Mexico in 2005 and has been living ever since in Maryland where she is a business owner.

In 2007, she was the victim of a violent robbery, which led to her seeking a U visa status. E. said she has been granted a bona fide work permit, but under the Trump administration, she fears she would not be protected from deportation if stopped by ICE.

The Immigration and Nationality Act permits 10,000 U visas per year, but annual applications regularly surpass 100,000, creating a backlog that keeps people waiting years for approval.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, which handles the vast majority of immigration applications, typically grants U visa seekers “deferred action” in the meantime after completing a security and background check of the individual. Traditionally, that has offered a level of protection from deportation, but the designation can also take years to receive.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

Individuals who came to the United States as children and meet key guidelines under an Obama-era program that never passed by Congress and is still under review by the courts.

Maira, 39, has lived in this country from her native Mexico for the past 25 years. She entered through Arizona with her parents as a teenager and has established herself as a successful entrepreneur. She currently lives in Edgewater.

“My parents brought me, and I have been a good citizen, I follow the laws, I pay taxes and provide jobs for 13 people,” she said. “I’m scared by the idea of … being deported to a country that I left behind when I was teenager.”

DACA is similar to U visa applicants in that the federal government has discretion in its determination of a necessary condition — whether the applicant poses a threat to public safety.

Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ)

Young people who need the protection of a juvenile court because they have been abused, abandoned or neglected by a parent.

Five sisters from El Salvador, ages 8 to 17, have been living in Maryland after being separated from their father. The girls who were reunited last April after a year and said they fear they will become separated again.

The sisters are among the more than 43,000 children who traveled to the United States unaccompanied from October 2023 to January 2024. For the last decade, children have been traveling to the U.S. southwest border in record numbers, with more than 34,000 unaccompanied children arriving in Maryland since October 2014.

Not all children who arrive to the U.S. unaccompanied may qualify for SIJS, but many do.

The lengthy application process requires a custody order in state court before requesting any immigration benefit. Children from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are subject to a yearslong wait to become permanent residents due to high application volumes. While waiting, it is possible for them to receive deferred action, granting limited status here.

Maryland is the 5th most-popular destination for unaccompanied minors, with 34,019 migrants.

O-2 visa

Individuals who will accompany an O-1 artist or athlete to assist in a specific event or performance.

F., a 30-year-old sous chef in Baltimore from South America, is currently in the process of attempting to get an O-2 visa.

The process is arduous and expensive. First, F., who already has a temporary exchange visa, was approved by the American Culinary Federation at a cost of $685. He had to prove that he is exceptional and that he can do the job better than other people in the country.

But the bills quickly add up.

An express processing fee added $4,000 in addition to paperwork, meetings and lawyer fees for another $10,000. The total could be more than $20,000, according to F. In the meantime, F. said he walks around carrying a lawyer’s phone number out of fear of detention and deportation.

Recently naturalized citizen

When noncitizens become a U.S. citizen after a multistep process that includes passing a citizenship test.

Carmen, a 66-year-old Honduran woman who’s been in the U.S. for 25 years, said she was happy to become a naturalized citizen at a Baltimore ceremony in December. Carmen said she loves this country, its freedoms and the safety she feels in her Gaithersburg community. She’s saddened by the current anti-immigrant rhetoric, she said.

Carmen pursued her citizenship for two years after residing in the U.S. for 25 years, almost all of it in Maryland. She originally emigrated from Honduras.

She said she migrated to the U.S. after losing her job and home. To her, people come to the U.S. for help and work. Before retiring, Carmen worked as a cleaner and eventually grew to supervise the cleaning crew.

Humanitarian Parole

People allowed to enter the United States for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit”

A. and his family left their home in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine shortly after Russia invaded in 2022. They arrived in the United States later that year thanks to the sponsorship of a family with whom they connected with online.

The Uniting for Ukraine program allowed Ukrainians with fiscal sponsors in the U.S. to apply for a two-year humanitarian parole, which grants entry into the country and access to a work permit. During a two-year runway, these people can apply for asylum, pursue another immigration benefit, or return home if conditions improve.

Similar programs started during the the Biden Administration for people from Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti. Under Trump, all have been paused. Sponsors were required to show proof of income through bank or tax statements. Parolees were subject to fingerprinting and background checks.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security promised to revoke the protection for roughly 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and directed those who entered the country with parole to “self-deport.” Trump has even directed immigration officials to pause the review of applications for asylum or other statuses submitted by people who entered this way.

Parolees from Ukraine are — for now — subject to these changes.

“We needed a place to start a new life,” said A., whose home city now lies in ruins after three years of war. His wife spoke some English, he said, making the U.S. an attractive spot for relocation.

A. said he worked delivering packages until his English was strong enough to get a better job. His family now has their own Baltimore County home, their kids are making the honor roll in school — they are building their life here.

“I don’t know what we’d do if our status is canceled in the United States,” said A. “In Ukraine, we don’t have any safe place.”

Banner reporters Darreonna Davis and Clara Longo de Freitas contributed to this story.