Judge Blocks Trump from Revoking Legal Status for 530K Migrants

A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from revoking the legal status and work permits of the more than 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who flew into the United States during former President Joe Biden's time in office.

The migrants came to the U.S. under Biden's controversial CHNV mass humanitarian parole program.

In her order, Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, wrote that each migrant needs to have an individualized, case-by-case review.

"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.

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.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration said Talwani essentially ruled that Trump can't use his own executive authority, the same authority Biden used, to revoke the parole that Biden granted.

"It is pure lawless tyranny," a Trump administration official told Fox News.

In March, the roughly 532,000 migrants under the CHNV program were told to leave the U.S. before their humanitarian parole and accompanying work permits are canceled on April 24, giving them a month from when the notice is formally published on March 25.