A federal appeals court in Boston denied a request from the Trump administration to revoke the temporary legal status of nearly 400,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opted not to suspend a lower court’s injunction that had blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from cutting short a two-year “parole” granted to these migrants under President Biden. This decision is part of a broader hardline approach to immigration by the Trump administration, which seeks to increase deportations, including of those previously granted the right to live and work in the U.S.
The administration argued that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has the discretion to end the migrants’ legal status, claiming that the lower court’s order forced the government to “retain” these individuals against its will. However, the three-judge panel, composed solely of Democratic appointees, ruled that Noem had not demonstrated a strong likelihood that her decision to terminate parole would succeed on appeal.
Karen Tumlin, a lawyer from the Justice Action Center, praised the ruling, labeling the administration’s efforts as “reckless and illegal.” The court’s decision followed a lawsuit by immigrant rights advocates challenging DHS’s attempt to pause several Biden-era programs designed to assist Ukrainian, Afghan, and other migrants.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani had previously noted that DHS’s move to revoke parole status was categorically applied without necessary case-by-case assessment, deeming it a legal misstep since it undermined the ability to expedite deportations legally. The Trump administration may now seek intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court regarding this issue.
Note: The image is for illustrative purposes only and is not the original image of the presented article.
