Judge stops Trump from yanking legal status for 530K migrants allowed into US under Biden
A Massachusetts federal judge stopped the?Trump administration?late Monday from yanking legal status from more than 530,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan nationals who were brought into the US under a?controversial Biden administration program.
Boston US District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, ruled that the migrants are entitled to a case-by-case review and declined to put her decision on hold while the Trump administration appeals it.?
“The early termination, without any case-by-case justification, of legal status for noncitizens?who have complied with DHS programs and entered the country lawfully undermines the rule of law,” Talwani wrote in a 41-page ruling. “The court finds the balance of equities and public interest weigh in favor of preliminary relief.”
At issue was the Biden administration’s?Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV)?mass humanitarian parole program, which gave nationals from those Latin American countries a path to legal status in the US.?
The Department of Homeland Security announced the program in early 2023.
Since then, an estimated?110,240 Cubans,?211,040 Haitians,?93,080 Nicaraguans and?117,320 Venezuelans were granted parole — or temporary permission — to stay in the US under the CHNV program.?
The Biden administration had argued the program would reduce the inflow of migrants across the southern border and allow for better vetting.
At one point this past July, the program?was paused due to widespread fraud?concerns after an internal probe found that more than 100,000 applicants for the program were backed by about 3,200 “serial sponsors.” It was restarted last August.
On his first day back in the White House, President Trump signed two executive orders that?were used to target the CHNV program.?
First was a directive to the DHS secretary to?“terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary” to his policies. Second was an order for the DHS secretary to ensure that all parole authority “is exercised on only a case-by-case basis in accordance with the plainlanguage of the statute.”
This ultimately prompted the DHS to file notice last month that it was scrapping the CHNV program completely. Migrants were given a month to leave the US before their parole status and work permits get canceled on April 24.?
A group of at least half a dozen enrollees in the program, backed by?Justice Action Center and other immigration advocacy groups, sued the Trump administration over the move to shutter the CHNV program.?
“This ruling is a victory not just for our clients and those like them, but anyone who cherishes the freedom to welcome,” Karen Tumlin, the director of the Justice Action Center, said in a statement.?
“Our clients — and our class members — have done everything the government asked of them, and we’re gratified to see that the court will not allow the government to fail to uphold its side of the bargain.”
Trump has moved to aggressively adjust his predecessor’s immigration policies and has presided over a sharp decrease in illegal border crossings.
Encounters at the southwest border dropped to?11,017 in March, down 94.2% from the?189,359 encounters during March of 2024,?according to data from US Customs and Border Patrol.
