US judge blocks Trump move to end legal status of 8,400 migrant family members – Firstpost

A US federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke the legal status of more than 8,400 relatives of American citizens and green card holders who entered the country from seven Latin American nations.

US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a preliminary injunction late Saturday, barring the Department of Homeland Security from ending humanitarian parole protections for thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

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The individuals were admitted to the United States under family reunification parole programmes that were launched or expanded during the administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden.

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Since President Donald Trump took office following Biden’s term, his administration has intensified immigration enforcement, allocating about $170 billion to immigration agencies through September 2029 — the largest such funding commitment in US history.

The family reunification programmes allow US citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor eligible relatives from the seven countries, enabling them to reside in the United States while waiting for their immigrant visas to be processed.

On December 12, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to shut down the programmes, arguing that they conflicted with the Trump administration’s immigration priorities and had been misused to permit what it described as “poorly vetted aliens” to bypass the standard parole process.

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The department had planned for the termination to take effect on January 14. However, Judge Talwani first issued a temporary restraining order blocking the move for 14 days while she reviewed whether longer-term relief was warranted. That review resulted in Saturday’s injunction.

In her ruling, Talwani stated the Homeland Security Department, under Secretary Kristi Noem, failed to substantiate its claims of fraud or consider whether affected individuals could realistically return to their home countries — particularly as many had already sold property or left employment.

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“The Secretary could not provide a reasoned explanation of the agency’s change in policy without acknowledging these interests,” Talwani wrote. “Accordingly, failure to do so was arbitrary and capricious.”

Talwani was appointed to the bench by former Democratic President Barack Obama.

The department did not respond to a request for comment.

The ruling came in a class action lawsuit pursued by immigrant rights advocates challenging the administration’s broader rollback of temporary parole granted to hundreds of thousands of migrants.

Talwani earlier in that case blocked the administration from ending grants of parole to about 430,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, but the Supreme Court lifted her order, which an appeals court later overturned.

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