Immigration Groups Welcome Halt to Trump’s Attempt to Revoke Legal Status and Work Permits For Half a Million Migrants

SAN DIEGO, CA – The California-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) has welcomed a United States federal judge’s temporary halt to the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke the legal status and work permits of half a million people who came to the US through a lawful pathway known as the CHNV humanitarian parole process for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Guerline JozefJudge Indira Talwani, of US District Court in Boston, Massachusetts, also certified a class of all individuals who have received a grant of parole that is subject to the Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, are still in the United States, and do not choose to opt out of the class in order to seek relief in separate litigation.

“Hundreds of thousands of our neighbors will go to sleep tonight knowing that the Trump administration’s attempts to delegitimize and criminalize our communities have been thwarted, for now,” said  Guerline Jozef, HBA’s executive director and founder.

She told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) “this win is a testament to the power and dedication of our communities.

“We are proud to stand alongside the people we serve, our partners and allies, and immigrant communities as we fight to ensure that this country that we love so much is on the right side of history, upholds the pillars of freedom, opportunity and rule of law,” she added.

Judge Talwani ruled on Monday that the “early termination, without any case-by-case justification, of legal status for noncitizens who have complied with DHS (Department of Homeland Security) programs and entered the country lawfully undermines the rule of law”.

Karen Tumlin, founder and director of the Los Angeles, California-based Justice Action Center, said that this ruling is “a significant step toward justice for not only the hundreds of thousands of people who entered the US through this important process but for the American sponsors who welcomed them to their homes and communities.

“With this decision, so many people throughout the country will be able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. Our clients — and our class members — have done everything the government asked of them, and we’re gratified to see that the court will not allow the government to fail to uphold its side of the bargain.”

Tumlin said the Justice Action Center and Human Rights First filed the case on behalf of humanitarian parole beneficiaries and their US sponsors from across the country, along with organizational plaintiff HBA filed last month to challenge Trump’s unprecedented decision to end “crucial humanitarian parole processes”.

The plaintiffs are also challenging Trump’s order to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to halt all pending applications for these processes and any other alternatives that may offer potential relief. The plaintiffs are represented by Justice Action Center and Human Rights First.

“Parole has been an essential component of our immigration system for decades, and for good reason, as illustrated by the experiences of the named plaintiffs in this case,” said Anwen Hughes, director of Legal Strategy, Refugee Programs at Human Rights First.

“The court rightly recognized the harm the government’s arbitrary decision-making was threatening in the lives of innocent people.”

Justice Action Center noted that, for more than 70 years, Republican and Democratic administrations alike have established parole processes to advance important American interests, including promoting family unification, advancing urgent humanitarian interests, and enhancing migration management.

In 2023, the Justice Action Center and partners successfully defended the CHNV parole processes after they were challenged by Texas and other states.

Late last month, President Trump revoked the CHNV humanitarian parole programs for individuals from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

In a notice published in the Federal Register, Trump’s DHS said it was “terminating the categorical parole programs for inadmissible aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and their immediate family members, hereinafter referred to as ‘CHNV parole programs’ that DHS announced in 2022 and 2023.

“DHS is terminating the CHNV parole programs as of March 25, 2025,” the notice said, adding that “parolees without a lawful basis to remain in the United States following this termination of the CHNV parole programs must depart the United States before their parole termination date”.

Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, told CMC that Trump’s decision would “categorically end the protection and legal status of 530,000 people who arrived in the United States under parole status”.