A federal judge will block the Trump administration from ordering Cuban, Haitian, and Venezuelan illegal immigrants.
This development comes amid several court battles over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and could be a temporary setback to the administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.
From The Associated Press:
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said she would issue a stay on an order for more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to leave the country, sparing them until the case advances to the next phase. Their permits were to be canceled April 24.
During a hearing, Talwani repeatedly questioned the government’s assertion that it could end humanitarian parole for the four nationalities. She argued that immigrants in the program who are here legally now face an option of “fleeing the country” or staying and “risk losing everything.”
“The nub of the problem here is that the secretary, in cutting short the parole period afforded to these individuals, has to have a reasoned decision,” Talwani said, adding that the explanation for ending the program was “based on an incorrect reading of the law.”
“There was a deal and now that deal has been undercut,” she said later in the hearing.
Last month, the administration revoked legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, setting them up for potential deportation in 30 days.
The individuals who would be affected by the White House’s move entered the country legally, the AP noted.
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They arrived with financial sponsors, applying online and paying their own airfare for two-year permits to live and work in the U.S. During that time, the beneficiaries needed to find other legal pathways if they wanted to stay longer in the U.S. Parole is a temporary status.
President Donald Trump has been ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the U.S., implementing campaign promises to deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally.
Guerline Jozef, founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the administration. She argued that this move contradicted the president’s stated goal of removing illegal immigrants from the country. “Even those people who have legal status, are paying their taxes and working are under attack,” she told the AP.
The Trump administration in February terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nearly 350,000 Venezuelans living in the United States, giving them only 60 days before they lose the ability to work in the country and possibly be deported.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defended the decision, claiming conditions in Venezuela have improved enough to end the program.
This comes after the Supreme Court created another setback for the president’s immigration agenda when it unanimously ruled that the White House had to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who resided in Maryland.
The authorities deported Abrego Garcia to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, claiming he was a member of the MS-13 street gang. However a judge in 2019 issued a withholding of removal in his case, which shielded him from being deported back to El Salvador. The administration admitted that he was removed due to an “administrative error.”
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