A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from ending a Biden-era program that gave work permits and legal status to more than half a million foreign nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
“If their parole status is allowed to lapse, Plaintiffs will be faced with two unfavorable options: continue following the law and leave the country on their own, or await removal proceedings,” U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrote in her ruling regarding the CHNV humanitarian parole program. “If Plaintiffs leave the country on their own, they will face dangers in their native countries, as set forth in their affidavits.”
Biden created the CHNV program in 2023 via his executive parole authority. The program was launched in 2022 and initially first applied to Venezuelans before it was expanded to additional countries.
The Biden administration argued that CHNV would help reduce illegal crossings at the southern border and allow better vetting of people entering the country amid an influx of migrants.
The program was temporarily paused after widespread fraud was found. Several recipients were also arrested for high-profile crimes, including multiple child rapes.
CHNV allowed the migrants and their immediate family members to fly into the U.S. if they had American sponsors. They could then remain in the country for two years under a temporary immigration status known as parole. (Fox News)
JUST IN: Obama appointed Judge Indira Talwani just BLOCKED the Trump admin’s plan to revoke the protected legal status of over 500,000 migrants who Biden flew into our country en masse pic.twitter.com/Bm0aMATG1k
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 15, 2025
Talwani, an Obama appointee, said each case needs to be reviewed individually.
"The Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, 90 Fed. Reg. 13611 (Mar. 25, 2025), is hereby STAYED pending further court order insofar as it revokes, without case-by-case review, the previously granted parole and work authorization issued to noncitizens paroled into the UnitedStates pursuant to parole programs for noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (the 'CHNV parole programs') prior to the noncitizen’s originally stated parole end date," she wrote.
As Fox News' Bill Melugin notes, the Biden administration "created the program out of thin air using his executive parole authority, and it was temporarily halted due to fraud in the program, and this judge is now blocking Trump from using his own authority to cancel the humanitarian parole grants."
BREAKING: A federal judge in Boston has reportedly blocked the Trump administration from revoking the legal status of over half a million migrants who flew into the U.S. via President Biden’s CHNV mass parole program. Biden admin created the program out of thin air using his… https://t.co/PY21f3vLEb
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 15, 2025
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