Federal judge blocks Trump's attempt to cancel humanitarian parole for Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled Monday that the administration of President Donald Trump is prohibited from categorically terminating the existing protections against deportation for 530,000 Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Haitian and Cuban immigrants under a humanitarian parole program by April 24, also known as the temporary stay permit. Talwani argued that the government had not acted within the regulatory limits established by the Administrative Procedure Act when it attempted to shorten the two-year deadline for the completion of the program.

In her order, Talwani explained that the plaintiffs had not offered substantial reasons or public interest to justify forcing the individuals who had been granted temporary status to remain in the country for a specified period to leave (or obtain undocumented status) before the original expiration date of their parole. Similarly, the judge detailed that "It is also not in the public interest to summarily state that hundreds of thousands of people are no longer considered lawfully present in the country, such that they cannot legally work in their communities or support themselves and their families."

Parole will remain in place until its original expiration

The judge also detailed that the protections must always be maintained until their original expiration, specifying that the ruling would apply to any attempt to prematurely terminate these protections without a mass case-by-case review. The lawsuit was filed by immigrant groups and their sponsors, who argued that suspending the program could cause serious harm to thousands of innocent people.

"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," the judge wrote in her order.

As reported by Fox News, several members of both the White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who did not disclose their identities, explained that Talwani's order was unfair in stating that the president could not use his own executive authority to revoke the parole granted during the administration of former President Joe Biden. "It is pure lawless tyranny," they told the conservative outlet.