Trump’s Latest Moves on Immigration Enforcement and Trade Negotiations…See More

Trump’s Latest Moves on Immigration Enforcement and Trade Negotiations…See More

The US First Circuit Court of Appeals kept on hold the Trump administration’s attempt to terminate parole for nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV), keeping in place for now protections from deportation for more than 500,000 individuals.

The decision today said the administration had not satisfied the high bar for the court to grant the emergency intervention the Department of Homeland Security was seeking.

The processing of parole requests — and related immigration benefits — for individuals admitted under the CHNV programs will proceed as it did after a district court paused the administration’s attempt to suspend the policy. The case is a challenge from immigrant advocacy groups, who argued that the abrupt policy shift unlawfully disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of parolees.

The order today from the appeals court — handed down by a panel made up of two appointees of President Joe Biden and a third judge appointed President Barack Obama — expressed skepticism that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had the power to categorically end the parole program for the migrants. The appeals court is not yet deciding that question on the merits, as it was only deciding an emergency request to pause a trial court’s ruling. But the First Circuit said the administration had not made a “strong showing” that it would succeed on its appeal, as required for such emergency interventions.

Earlier this month, US District Court Judge Indira Talwani, based in Massachusetts, ruled in favor of the challengers, restoring the parole process and related immigration benefits.