Latest news with #legalstatus
New York Times
2 days ago
- General
- New York Times
How the Supreme Court Made Legal Immigrants Vulnerable to Deportation
The government knows their names. Their fingerprints have been scanned into government computers. The Department of Homeland Security knows where most of them live, because the immigrants in question — more than 500,000 of them — reside in the United States legally. But two new Supreme Court decisions have left them open to deportation, an abrupt turn for a population that has been able to remain in the country by using legal pathways for people facing war and political turmoil at home. 'Thousands of people — especially Haitians, Cubans and Venezuelans — instantly shift from 'lawfully present' to 'deportable,'' said Jason Houser, a former official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Biden administration. Now, with their protections revoked while legal challenges move through lower courts, many immigrants have found themselves in a vulnerable position. Because so many of them have shared detailed information with the government, including addresses, biometrics and the names of their sponsors, they could be easy to track down at a moment when the Trump administration is looking for ways to deport people quickly. 'Ending the C.H.N.V. parole programs, as well as the paroles of those who exploited it, will be a necessary return to common-sense policies, a return to public safety, and a return to America First,' said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department. She was using an abbreviation for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the countries in the humanitarian parole program targeted by the Trump administration. Whether and how aggressively the administration might move to begin rounding up people whose legal protections have been revoked remains unclear, though officials signaled several months ago that they feel they have the authority to do so. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fast Company
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fast Company
Trump can revoke status of 500,000 immigrants, Supreme Court says
Following a divided Supreme Court ruling Friday, more than half a million people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela stand to have their legal immigration status in the U.S. revoked. The decision follows another recent ruling clearing the way for President Trump's no-holds-barred immigration crackdown and puts close to one million people at risk of imminent deportation, even as the case continues its way through the courts. The Supreme Court's decision to grant a stay in the case will temporarily pause an immigration program known as CHNV (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela) that offered temporary legal entry into the U.S. for people fleeing countries stricken by war and instability. Previously, a federal judge ruled that the administration could not suspend the program across the board, a decision that was upheld by an appeals court last month. Following those rulings, the Trump administration sought an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court and on Friday it was successful. A Biden-era immigration program Earlier this month in a parallel case, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the White House to remove the legal status of 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants living within the country through a program granting them legal protections known as Temporary Protected Status. The Biden administration introduced an expanded humanitarian parole program in 2023, building on a previous program specific to Venezuela that was implemented the year prior. Under the expanded process, up to 30,000 people per month from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba who have a sponsor in the U.S. and pass background checks could be granted work authorization and allowed to stay in the U.S. for two years. The initiative aimed to 'expand and expedite legal pathways for orderly migration' by offering an additional immigration path that discouraged illegal alternatives. The Biden administration attributed a drop in unlawful immigration from Venezuela to the success of the humanitarian parole program. The new Supreme Court ruling is the latest emergency order responding to the Trump administration's barrage of executive actions seeking to dismantle existing immigration policies. The ruling did not provide an explanation for the decision, which reverses a lower court's previous decision to block the administration's effort to end the humanitarian parole program. Moving faster than the courts After taking office, President Trump moved immediately to dismantle Biden-era immigration policies, which he characterized as enabling a 'large-scale invasion' of the country. In an executive order issued on January 20, Trump announced his intention to end the humanitarian parole program and signaling the coming battle over immigration in the courts. 'One of my most important obligations is to protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement,' Trump said in the order. In March, the Department of Homeland Security moved to execute those plans, revoking temporary legal protections for more than 500,000 people in the U.S. Trump has boasted of plans to deport upwards of 15 million people, but that number exceeds most estimates of how many total unauthorized immigrants are even in the U.S. to begin with. While Trump's immigration numbers may not eclipse those of his former political rivals, his administration's methods and priorities vary sharply. A rhetorical shift with familiar numbers Despite centering his public image around immigration policy, Trump actually deported fewer people during his first term than former President Obama did during either of his two consecutive terms. During his first four years, Trump deported roughly 1.5 million people – half of the 2.9 billion from Obama's first term – but has promised to execute 'the largest deportation program in American history' upon taking office again. For comparison, former President Biden deported more people in 2024 than any president within a single year in the last decade. While the Obama administration focused its efforts on recent arrivals in the U.S., Trump is targeting people who have been in the country for years along with large swaths of people who entered the U.S. legally during the Biden era. Trump also made headlines by announcing that the U.S. would detail 30,000 people in Guantánamo's infamous military prison, but has backed away from the flashy enforcement plan over concerns around cost and logistics. Leaning on a centuries-old law To achieve its anti-immigration aims, the Trump administration has undertaken a rash and potentially illegal series of deportations, leaning on an obscure law known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which was previously invoked only three times across history. In March, an ICE official admitted to mistakenly deporting a man with protected legal status to El Salvador. The administration initially said that it could not bring the man, Abrego Garcia, back to the U.S., though Trump later said that he could return Garcia with a single phone call but chose not to. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor denounced the court's emergency decision in a dissent on Friday, accusing the administration of intending to 'inflict maximum predecision damage' through its appeal. 'The Court has plainly botched this assessment today,' Jackson wrote in the dissent, arguing that the decision 'undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending.'
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
Supreme Court Clears Trump to Strip 500,000 of Legal Status
The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to immediately end temporary legal status for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, affecting up to half a million people. The court's order clears the way for the Department of Homeland Security to end so-called parole programs, which gave migrants temporary legal status, and marks the second time in less than two weeks the justices have opened hundreds of thousands of migrants to possible deportation. The decision was met with dissent from Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, who argued that the court "undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending." Bloomberg's Greg Stohr reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
The National
3 days ago
- General
- The National
US Supreme Court lets Trump revoke 'parole' status for migrants
The US Supreme Court on Friday let President Donald Trump 's administration revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants living in the US, bolstering the Republican leader's drive to step up deportations. The court put on hold Boston-based US District Judge Indira Talwani's order halting the administration's move to end the immigration 'parole' granted to 532,000 of these migrants by Mr Trump's predecessor Joe Biden. The move potentially exposes many of them to rapid removal while the case plays out in lower courts. As with many of the court's orders issued in an emergency fashion, the decision was unsigned and gave no reasoning. Two of the court's three liberal justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, publicly dissented. The court botched its assessment of whether the administration was entitled to freeze Ms Talwani's decision pending the litigation, Ms Jackson wrote in an accompanying opinion. The outcome, Ms Jackson wrote, 'undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million non-citizens while their legal claims are pending'. Immigration parole is a form of temporary permission under American law to be in the country for 'urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit', allowing recipients to live and work in the US. Mr Biden, a Democrat, used parole as part of his administration's approach to deter illegal immigration at the US-Mexican border. Mr Trump called for the end of humanitarian parole programmes in an executive order signed on January 20, his first day back in office. The Department of Homeland Security moved to terminate them in March, cutting short the two-year parole grants. The administration said revoking the parole status would make it easier to place migrants in a fast-track deportation process called 'expedited removal'. The case is one of many that Mr Trump's administration has brought in an emergency fashion to the nation's highest judicial body, seeking to undo decisions by judges impeding his sweeping policies, including several targeting immigrants. The Supreme Court on May 19 let the President end a deportation protection called temporary protected status that had been granted under Mr Biden to about 350,000 Venezuelans living in the US, while that legal dispute plays out. In a bid to reduce illegal border crossings, Mr Biden in 2022 allowed Venezuelans who entered the country by air to request a two-year parole if they passed security checks and had a US financial sponsor. Mr Biden expanded that process to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans in 2023 as his administration grappled with high levels of illegal immigration by those nationalities. The plaintiffs, a group of migrants granted parole and Americans who serve as their sponsors, sued officials, claiming the administration violated federal law governing the actions of government agencies. Ms Talwani in April found that the law governing such parole did not allow for the programme's blanket termination, instead requiring a case-by-case review. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put the judge's decision on hold. In its filing, the Justice Department told the Supreme Court that Ms Talwani's order had upended 'critical immigration policies that are carefully calibrated to deter illegal entry', effectively 'undoing democratically approved policies that featured heavily in the November election' that returned Mr Trump to the presidency. The plaintiffs told the Supreme Court they would face grave harm if their parole is cut short, given that the administration has indefinitely suspended processing their applications for asylum and other immigration relief. They said they would be separated from their families and immediately subject to expedited deportation 'to the same despotic and unstable countries from which they fled, where many will face serious risks of danger, persecution and even death'. Ms Talwani on Wednesday ordered the administration to resume processing applications for work permits or more lasting immigration status from migrants with parole status from Afghanistan, Latin America and Ukraine.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
US supreme court lets Trump revoke ‘parole' status for migrants
The US supreme court on Friday let President Donald Trump 's administration revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants living in the United States, bolstering the Republican president's drive to step up deportations. The court put on hold Boston-based US district judge Indira Talwani's order halting the administration's move to end the immigration 'parole' granted to 532,000 of these migrants by Mr Trump's predecessor Joe Biden , potentially exposing many of them to rapid removal, while the case plays out in lower courts. As with many of the court's orders issued in an emergency fashion, the decision was unsigned and gave no reasoning. Two of the court's three liberal justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, publicly dissented. The court botched its assessment of whether the administration was entitled to freeze Judge Talwani's decision pending the litigation, Justice Jackson wrote in an accompanying opinion. READ MORE The outcome, Justice Jackson wrote, 'undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending'. Immigration parole is a form of temporary permission under US law to be in the country for 'urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit', allowing recipients to live and work in the United States. Mr Biden, a Democrat, used parole as part of his administration's approach by to deter illegal immigration at the US-Mexican border. Mr Trump called for ending humanitarian parole programmes in an executive order signed on January 20th, his first day back in office. The Department of Homeland Security subsequently moved to terminate them in March, cutting short the two-year parole grants. The administration said revoking the parole status would make it easier to place migrants in a fast-track deportation process called 'expedited removal'. The case is one of many that Mr Trump's administration has brought in an emergency fashion to the nation's highest judicial body seeking to undo decisions by judges impeding his sweeping policies, including several targeting immigrants. The supreme court on May 19th also let Mr Trump end a deportation protection called temporary protected status that had been granted under Mr Biden to about 350,000 Venezuelans living in the United States, while that legal dispute plays out. In a bid to reduce illegal border crossings, Mr Biden starting in 2022 allowed Venezuelans who entered the United States by air to request a two-year parole if they passed security checks and had a US financial sponsor. Mr Biden expanded that process to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans in 2023 as his administration grappled with high levels of illegal immigration from those nationalities. The plaintiffs, a group of migrants granted parole and Americans who serve as their sponsors, sued administration officials claiming the administration violated federal law governing the actions of government agencies. Judge Talwani in April found that the law governing such parole did not allow for the programme's blanket termination, instead requiring a case-by-case review. The Boston-based 1st US circuit court of appeals declined to put the judge's decision on hold. In its filing, the justice department told the supreme court that Judge Talwani's order had upended 'critical immigration policies that are carefully calibrated to deter illegal entry', in effect 'undoing democratically approved policies that featured heavily in the November election' that returned Mr Trump to the presidency. The plaintiffs told the supreme court they would face grave harm if their parole was cut short given that the administration has indefinitely suspended processing their pending applications for asylum and other immigration relief. They said they would be separated from their families and immediately subject to expedited deportation 'to the same despotic and unstable countries from which they fled, where many will face serious risks of danger, persecution and even death'. − Reuters (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025
