A federal judge announced Thursday that she intends to block a move by the Trump administration to revoke temporary legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, sitting in Boston, said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) misinterpreted the law when it attempted to end two-year humanitarian parole programs originally introduced under President Joe Biden. These programs allowed individuals fleeing danger or hardship in their home countries to live and work legally in the United States.
The Trump administration’s recent policy, outlined in a Federal Register notice last month, would have made roughly 450,000 migrants eligible for expedited deportation starting April 24. Judge Talwani, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said this decision was based on a flawed understanding of the law.
According to the judge, the relevant immigration statute is designed to address people who enter the U.S. unlawfully, not those who were legally admitted under a grant of parole. “What you’re prioritizing is not people coming over the border but the people who followed the rules,” she stated during the hearing.
Immigration advocates, including the nonprofit group Justice Action Center, brought the case to court. Their attorney, Laura Flores-Perilla, said she hopes the judge will move swiftly to finalize her ruling and stop what she described as an “unprecedented mass termination” of parole status. “The stakes are quite high,” she said. “These are human lives at stake, and the urgency is very much there.”
The Biden administration began the parole programs in 2022 to help Venezuelans and extended them in 2023 to include Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans. These programs were designed to offer a lawful way for people from crisis-stricken countries to enter and remain in the U.S.
The Trump administration’s efforts to halt these programs were part of a broader crackdown on immigration, arguing that the parole system was always intended to be used on a case-by-case basis. Justice Department attorney Brian Ward argued in court that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was not obligated to maintain the parole programs or to revoke parole individually.
Judge Talwani clarified she was not planning to force the administration to continue accepting new applicants into the programs. However, she expressed confusion over the administration’s decision to target people already living lawfully in the country. She promised to act quickly in issuing an order to temporarily block the policy from taking effect.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Department of Justice responded immediately to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, immigration rights groups continue to fight for the legal protection of those who have already built lives in the U.S. under these programs. The case remains ongoing, with high stakes for hundreds of thousands of migrant families.
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