A federal judge on Monday halted the Trump administration’s plan to revoke the legal status and work permits of more than 530,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan nationals who were flown into the U.S. under a Biden-era parole program.
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security issued a notice about the change set to take effect April 24. The administration warned immigrants hailing from those four countries to self-deport by the deadline or else face imminent arrest at the hands of federal agents. Arrests of those who failed to apply for other immigration benefits, like a green card, would be prioritized in the move.
A new ruling, however, suspended the plan until further notice. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee who sits on the bench in Boston, said the terminations of legal status for noncitizens could not immediately happen “without case-by-case review.”
“If their parole status is allowed to lapse, Plaintiffs will be faced with two unfavorable options: continue following the law and leave the country on their own, or await removal proceedings. If Plaintiffs leave the country on their own, they will face dangers in their native countries, as set forth in their affidavits,” Talwani wrote.
Under former President Joe Biden, the mass humanitarian parole program granted U.S. entry to an estimated 532,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The program granted immigration parole to Venezuelans in 2022 and expanded legal protections to Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans in 2023, allowing them to work in the U.S. for two years.
Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua are each ruled by socialist dictators, while Haiti continues to experience a yearslong political crisis fueled by an escalation in gang violence.
“For some Plaintiffs, leaving will also cause family separation,” the judge wrote. “Leaving may also mean Plaintiffs will have forfeited any opportunity to obtain a remedy based on their [Administrative Procedure Act] claims, as leaving may moot those claims.”
The Biden administration claimed the CHNV program promoted legal immigration and discouraged illegal entry at the southern border. The policy’s legality was challenged by Republican-led states in federal court.
Meanwhile, the program was rife with fraud and poor vetting of participants. Almost three million CHNV applications were filed as of last August, including 80,000 for aliens who lived in countries other than Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, a House Judiciary Committee report found. Concerns of growing fraud led Biden’s DHS to temporarily suspend the program for several weeks last year.
Monday’s ruling dealt another setback to the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, which has been tested in courts. In one instance last month, a federal judge in California blocked the administration from ending temporary protected status that shields more than 350,000 Venezuelans from deportation.
Late last week, DHS officials announced the end of temporary protected status for immigrants originating from Afghanistan and Cameroon. About 14,600 Afghans will lose legal status next month, while roughly 7,900 Cameroonians will lose it in June.
Despite facing legal challenges, the DHS is proceeding with President Donald Trump’s push to deport illegal immigrants en masse and shut down the southern border. Deportations of violent criminals who belong to foreign gangs, such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, are being prioritized.