Federal judge blocks Trump administration from pulling Biden-era migrant protections
- A federal judge has temporarily prevented the Trump administration from revoking temporary migrant protections established during the Biden administration.
- This ruling arrives as the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on immigration, impacting numerous individuals who legally entered the U.S.through temporary programs from countries including Afghanistan, Ukraine, and...
- in January, president Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to terminate the Biden-era "parole" programs.
Judge blocks Trump’s Migrant Protections Rollback
A federal judge has temporarily prevented the Trump administration from revoking temporary migrant protections established during the Biden administration. The order compels officials to resume processing applications for these protections.
This ruling arrives as the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on immigration, impacting numerous individuals who legally entered the U.S.through temporary programs from countries including Afghanistan, Ukraine, and nations in Latin America. The lawsuit specifically challenges the suspension of application processing for people from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
in January, president Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to terminate the Biden-era “parole” programs. These programs had allowed individuals from specific countries to reside and work in the U.S. temporarily, citing humanitarian concerns or public interest.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani acknowledged the Trump administration’s broad discretion over immigration policy. However, she stated that this discretion is not entirely exempt from judicial review. Talwani previously issued a similar order in April concerning individuals from Cuba,Haiti,Nicaragua,and Venezuela under the CHNV Program. The Trump administration has appealed this order to the Supreme Court.
“this court emphasizes, as it did in its prior order, that it is indeed not in the public interest to manufacture a circumstance in which hundreds of thousands of individuals will, over the course of several months, become unlawfully present in the country, such that these individuals cannot legally work in their communities or provide for themselves and their families,” Talwani said Wednesday.
Anwen Hughes, a lawyer for Human Rights First, representing plaintiffs in the case, stated that the ruling reaffirms the government’s legal obligation to respect the rights of all humanitarian parole beneficiaries and the Americans who have welcomed them.
Attorneys for the Justice Department, in their appeal to the Supreme Court, argued that Talwani’s April ruling obstructs the Executive Branch’s authority over immigration and foreign policy, undermining Congress’s decision to vest that authority in the Secretary, not the courts.
What’s next
The legal battle continues as the Trump administration seeks Supreme Court intervention, while advocates for migrant protections hope to solidify the lower court’s ruling.