April 15 (UPI) — A federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration’s effort to strip deportation protection from hundreds of thousands of migrants legally in the United States.
Judge Indira Talwani of a Massachusetts district court granted emergency relief on Monday that stays President Donald Trump’s effort to terminate the Biden-era parole process for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
In her ruling, Talwani said the Trump administration cannot revoke previously granted parole and work authorization without a case-by-case review. She said ending the migrants’ status prior to the expiration of their parole would force them to either live illegally in the United States without the ability to work or return to their native countries where they face danger — neither of which is in the public’s interest.
“The early termination, without any case-by-case justification, of legal status for noncitizens who have complied with [Department of Homeland Security] programs and entered the country lawfully undermines the rule of law,” Talwani wrote in her 41-page ruling.
Since returning to the White House on Jan. 20, Trump has conducted a crackdown on legal and illegal immigration.
On his first day in office, Trump issued an immigration-related executive order that, among other things, directed the termination of the humanitarian parole program President Joe Biden created in January 2023 to curb illegal immigration while creating a pathway to enter the country for those from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
On March 25, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would end the parole program by April 24, threatening the future status of some 530,000 migrants from the four countries who are legally in the United States and protected from deportation for up to two years.
Talwani’s ruling comes in a class action lawsuit originally filed Feb. 28 by Justice Action Center, Human Rights First and plaintiff organization Haitian Bridge Alliance and several people who would be affected by the termination of the parole program, known as CHNV.
“This ruling is a significant step toward justice for not only the hundreds of thousands of people who entered the U.S. through this important process, but for the American sponsors who welcomed them to their homes and communities,” Karen Tumlin, founder and director of 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.”
