Obama judge prevents Trump admin from eliminating 'flawed' Biden migrant parole program

A Massachusetts-based Obama judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from ending the Biden administration's CHNV parole programs, which allowed multitudes of otherwise inadmissible migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to flood into the country.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also certified a class of all those foreign nationals who received a grant of parole affected by the DHS' termination of the program.

Talwani, a daughter of immigrants from India and Germany, claimed that the Trump administration "offered no substantial reason or public interest that justifies forcing individuals who were granted parole in the United States for a specific duration to leave (or move into undocumented status) in advance of the original date their parole was set to expire."

"Nor is it in the public interest to summarily declare that hundreds of thousands of individuals are no longer considered lawfully present in the country," continued Talwani. "The early termination, without any case-by-case justification, of legal status for noncitizens who have complied with DHS programs and entered the country lawfully undermines the rule of law."

Ironically, the Biden administration appears to have played fast and loose with the law when admitting migrants into the country under the CHNV parole program.

Background

The House Judiciary Committee noted in a November report, "Through CHNV, each month up to 30,000 aliens, who otherwise have no basis to enter the country and who have 'a supporter' in the United States, can bypass the U.S. border and fly directly into the country 'on commercial flights' to be 'granted parole' for a period of two years by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security."

While federal law requires that the DHS secretary use his parole authority on a "case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit," former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas apparently figured it better to permit inadmissible aliens en masse — the consequences of which were felt across the country but especially in Springfield, Ohio, which was overwhelmed by Haitian nationals.

'This fundamentally flawed program must be permanently dismantled.'

According to the report, over 531,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans had entered the country via the program as of September 2024.

Congressional investigators noted that in addition to the issue of the Biden administration flouting federal law, the program was "plagued by so much fraud that DHS itself was forced to pause the program in July 2024."

Blaze News previously reported that an internal probe found that over 100,000 applicants were backed by approximately 3,000 serial sponsors.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), among the many Republican lawmakers who criticized the program, said in a Sept. 10 letter to Mayorkas, "This fundamentally flawed program must be permanently dismantled. The program has not only facilitated widespread fraud, but has also exposed serious vulnerabilities in our immigration system, leading to dire consequences for public safety."

Despite its awareness that foreign nationals were recycling Social Security numbers, addresses, and phone numbers in their applications, the Biden administration resumed the program the following month.

Eliminating the program

On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to "terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders, including the program known as the 'Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.'"

The Department of Homeland Security followed through, announcing last month in the Federal Register that it was terminating the CHNV parole programs on March 25.

'The [DHS] Secretary's discretion in this area is broad.'

Foreign nationals whose temporary parole period in the U.S. under the program had not already expired were notified that their paroles would terminate on April 24 "unless the Secretary makes an individual determination to the contrary."

The DHS noted further that parolees without a lawful basis to remain in the country had to leave the U.S. before their parole termination date. Those who remained unlawfully would be deported.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted, "These are the 530,000 illegal immigrants that Joe Biden flew to the United States on the taxpayers [sic] dime. They're welcome to self-deport using the newly repurposed CBP Home App!"

Lawsuit

Justice Action Center, Human Rights First, and Haitian Bridge Alliance sued on behalf of foreign nationals to prevent the Trump administration from ending the previous administration's parole processes. They found a fellow activist in Talwani.

The Obama judge acknowledged that her "role in reviewing agency action in this area is limited" and that "the [DHS] Secretary's discretion in this area is broad" but nevertheless made clear she would meddle anyway.

Talwani said that the migrants have standing to challenge the shortening of their grant of parole, noting that 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."

The judge suggested that both options were undesirable.

Talwani noted that if required to depart the U.S., then migrants might undergo family separation, forfeit opportunities to obtain a remedy for their Administrative Procedure Act claims, and face dangers back in their respective homelands. If they remain in the country illegally, then they will lose their legal work authorization and possibly face arrest, wrote the judge.

To spare foreign nationals from an election-backed reversal of Democratic policy, Talwani ruled to temporarily preserve the legal status of CHNV migrants and block the DHS' enforcement on April 24.

"Hundreds of thousands of our neighbors will go to sleep tonight knowing that the Trump administration's attempts to delegitimize and criminalize our communities have been thwarted, for now," Guerline Jozef, founder of Haitian Bridge Alliance, said in a statement.

"The court rightly recognized the harm the government's arbitrary decision-making was threatening in the lives of innocent people," said Anwen Hughes, a legal strategist at Human Rights First.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!