Appeals Court Denies Trump Request to Revoke 400,000 Migrants' Legal Status

Advertisement 0:07 By Gabe Whisnant Breaking News Editor Trust Project Icon Newsweek Is A Trust Project Member FOLLOW news article 10 Translate Afederal appeals court on Monday denied a request from President Donald Trump's administration to proceed with revoking temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela living in the United States. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Boston, declined to stay a lower court ruling that blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from ending a two-year humanitarian parole program. The program was originally implemented under Trump's Democratic successor, President Joe Biden. Newsweek has reached out to DHS via email on Monday night for comment. Migrants in Mexico Migrants walk through Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico in an attempt to reach the U.S. border, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, the inauguration day of U.S. President Donald Trump. Associated Press Why It Matters The administration's move signaled a significant escalation of the Republican president's hardline immigration agenda, expanding efforts to increase deportations—including of noncitizens who had previously been granted legal permission to live and work in the United States. What to Know The court ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by immigrant rights advocates, who challenged a Department of Homeland Security decision to suspend several Biden-era parole programs. These programs had allowed migrants from countries such as Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter the U.S. legally on a temporary basis. While the case was still pending, DHS announced in a March 25 notice published in the Federal Register that it planned to terminate the two-year parole previously granted to approximately 400,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) migrants. On April 25, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani—an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama—blocked the agency's action. She ruled that DHS had improperly revoked parole and work authorization on a broad, categorical basis, without conducting the required individualized case-by-case review. She stated that the department's only justification for refusing to let the migrants' parole status expire naturally was rooted in a legal misinterpretation—specifically, an incorrect belief that doing so would prevent the agency from lawfully expediting their deportations. Read more Migrants Bipartisan Group of Former Judges Blasts Trump's 'Assault' on the Judiciary Trump's Border Czar Tom Homan Reacts to President's Alcatraz Remarks White House Offers To Pay Migrants $1,000 To Self-Deport Trump Admin Asks Supreme Court to Allow DOGE to Access Social Security Data What People Are Saying Karen Tumlin, a lawyer whose immigrant rights group Justice Action Center pursued the case, shared the following statement with Newsweek, "We are relieved that the First Circuit panel denied the Trump administration's request to block the district court order that stopped the Trump administration's reckless and illegal attempt to strip nearly half a million people of their lawful immigration status, said Karen Tumlin, Founder and Director of Justice Action Center. "Our clients and class members are essential coworkers, life partners, and family members to others in the United States, and they have done everything the U.S. government has asked of them. Now the Trump administration needs to uphold its end of the bargain." DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek via email, "CHNV was an unlawful scheme to unleash over 530,000 poorly vetted aliens into America, fueling crime and stealing jobs—forcing our agents in the field to ignore rampant fraud. The Trump Administration is committed to restoring the rule of law to our immigration system. No lawsuit, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that." What's Next The Trump administration could now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.