A U.S. federal judge on Monday halted the Trump administration’s move to revoke the legal status of over 500,000 immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti, marking a significant setback to the former president’s aggressive immigration agenda.
District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued an emergency order stopping the termination of the parole program that granted legal entry and temporary stay to migrants from the four nations.
The program, introduced in October 2022 under former President Joe Biden, allowed up to 30,000 migrants per month to enter the U.S. legally for two years.
In March, the Trump administration announced plans to end the program and strip the legal protections of approximately 532,000 individuals.
The changes were set to take effect on April 24, just 30 days after the Department of Homeland Security published the termination notice in the Federal Register.
Judge Talwani ruled that the administration acted on a flawed interpretation of immigration law, clarifying that expedited removal applies only to non-citizens who entered illegally, not those admitted through authorized programs like parole.
The ruling comes amid Trump’s broader campaign promises to crack down on illegal immigration and deport millions of undocumented migrants. He has also invoked wartime powers to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, where they are currently imprisoned.
The Biden-era parole program was designed to provide temporary refuge to people fleeing humanitarian crises in their home countries, many of which are plagued by violence and political instability.
The Trump administration is expected to challenge the ruling as it continues to advance its tough-on-immigration stance ahead of the 2024 elections.
