A federal appeals court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s request to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti, and Cuba residing in the United States.
The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Boston, upheld a lower court ruling that blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from ending the two-year “parole” period initially granted to the migrants under the Biden administration.
The Biden-era policy had allowed migrants from these countries to stay in the U.S. temporarily, but the Trump administration had moved to terminate the program, reflecting its stricter stance on immigration and efforts to ramp up deportations.
Arguing for the government, the administration said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had the authority to terminate the migrants’ status en masse, claiming that the court’s order was compelling the federal government to “retain hundreds of thousands of aliens in the country against its will.”
However, a panel of three judges — all appointed by Democratic presidents — dismissed that argument, stating that Noem “has not at this point made a ‘strong showing’ that her categorical termination of plaintiffs’ parole is likely to be sustained on appeal.”
Karen Tumlin, an attorney from the Justice Action Center, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the migrants, praised the court’s ruling. She described the administration’s actions as “reckless and illegal.”
Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department, defended the administration’s stance. “The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law to our immigration system,” she said. “No lawsuit, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that.”
The legal battle stems from the DHS’s March 25 notice in the Federal Register, where it announced the end of parole for approximately 400,000 migrants while the matter was under judicial review. That action included the cancellation of work authorizations and parole status for the affected groups.
US District Judge Indira Talwani, appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued an order on April 25 halting the DHS decision. She ruled that the department’s move to rescind the migrants’ parole lacked the necessary individual case review and was instead applied broadly and unjustly.
The case continues to unfold as immigrant advocacy groups and the Trump administration brace for further legal confrontations over the fate of these migrants.
