US Judge halts Trump gambit to revoke legal status immigrants under programme initiated by Biden
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A United States federal Judge has blocked President Donald Trump from quickly revoking the legal status of more than 500,000 immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti, and deport them back to their countries.
The ruling by District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston is the latest order against Trump’s rapid push to carry out mass deportations, particularly targeting Latin Americans.
In March, his administration said it was moving to revoke the legal status of some 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who came to the US under a “parole” program launched by former President Joe Biden in October 2022.
“The court grants emergency relief staying the Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans,” Talwani wrote in her order.
The program allowed entry to the US for two years for up to 30,000 migrants per month from the four countries, which have grim human rights records.
Talwani said the Trump administration acted on a flawed interpretation of immigration law, with expedited removal applicable to non-citizens entering the US illegally, but not those authorised to be in the country, such as through the parole program.
Under Trump’s revocation, the immigrants would have lost their legal protection effective April 24, just 30 days after the Department of Homeland Security published its order in the Federal Register.
Trump has vowed to deport “millions” of undocumented migrants in his second term, after running an election campaign focused on illegal immigration – and has already shipped out thousands from the US.
Among other measures, he has invoked rare wartime legislation to fly out hundreds of alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, which is imprisoning the migrants.
Read also:
Abuja suspends FUOYE VC over alleged sexual harassment after intervention of Education Minister
