A federal judge on Thursday, April 10, 2025, said she will halt the Trump administration from ending humanitarian parole for people from four countries.
The parole is a program that allowed hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to temporarily live in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said that she will issue a stay on the program, which was set to end later this month.
The push to help more than half-a-million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans is part of a broader legal effort to protect nationals from Ukraine, Afghanistan and other countries who are here legally.
Last month, the administration revoked legal protections for hundreds of thousands from the four countries.
It thus set them up for potential deportation in 30 days.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24.
They arrived with financial sponsors and were given 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 in the U.S.
Parole has been a temporary status.
President Donald Trump has been ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the U.S.
According to reports, he is implementing campaign promises to deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally.
In motion ahead of the hearing, plaintiffs called the administration’s action “unprecedented.
They also said it would result in people losing their legal status and ability to work.
They further called the move “contrary to law within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act.”
This Act sets out the procedures that agencies have to follow when making rules.
Lawyers for the Trump administration argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing.
They also argued that the move by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security impacting immigrants in the program, known as CHNV, did not violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
They also said plaintiffs would not be able to show the termination of the program was unlawful.
DHS wrote that its decision to terminate the CHNV program and existing grants of parole under that program is within this statutory authority.
They also say it comports with the notice requirements of the statute and regulations,
DHS added that given the temporary nature of CHNV parole and CHNV parolees’ pre-existing inability to seek re-parole under the program, their harms are outweighed by the harms to the public.
This they say is if the Secretary is not permitted to discontinue a program she has determined does not serve the public interest.
The end of temporary protections for these immigrants has generated little political blowback among Republicans.
But it excludes three Cuban-American representatives from Florida who called for preventing the deportation of the Venezuelans affected.
One of them, Rep. Maria Salazar of Miami, also joined about 200 congressional Democrats this week in cosponsoring a bill that would enable them to become lawful permanent residents.
