By Mary Campbell| Photo Copyright IQ INC.
In a sharply consequential decision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with revoking temporary legal protections granted to over half a million immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—unwinding a major immigration policy from the Biden era.
The court’s order, issued in response to an emergency application from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, effectively ends the CHNV parole programs created under former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2022. The policy had granted two-year temporary residence and work permits to nationals from the four countries, provided they passed security vetting and secured a U.S.-based sponsor.
A Divided Court
The unsigned order did not provide a detailed explanation, but Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented, emphasizing the human cost of the ruling.
Justice Jackson warned of the “devastating consequences” of suddenly stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands. “The court today fails to appreciate the real-life stakes for these individuals, many of whom have integrated into their communities, found employment, and started families,” she wrote.
The Supreme Court’s decision places a hold on a lower court ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts, who had sided with immigrant advocacy groups in finding that the government could not terminate the legal status of so many people without individualized review. That ruling is now paused while further litigation proceeds.
Legal and Human Fallout
The Biden administration’s original parole program was introduced in part to address a rising number of border arrivals and reduce pressure on immigration enforcement infrastructure. It allowed more than 530,000 individuals to live and work legally in the U.S. temporarily, a move hailed by immigrant rights advocates but criticized by immigration hardliners as executive overreach.
The Trump administration, newly empowered by a conservative-leaning court, has argued that Judge Talwani overstepped her authority. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said that the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) grants broad discretion to the Secretary of Homeland Security to determine parole status, including the power to terminate it.
The Department of Homeland Security had previously announced in October 2024 that the parolees’ statuses would not be renewed after their two-year terms ended, signaling the coming shift in policy. With the court’s latest decision, that rollback can proceed immediately.
Advocates Warn of Expulsions
Groups such as the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which joined legal challenges to the administration’s move, say the consequences could be dire.
In court filings, their attorneys stated that the decision could render the affected immigrants “immediately undocumented, legally unemployable, and subject to mass expulsion.” They further argued that revoking protections without case-by-case evaluation is both inhumane and inconsistent with due process.
While the Supreme Court’s order allows the policy to be reversed for now, the broader legal battle over the limits of executive power in immigration is far from over.
Political Context
This dispute is emblematic of a broader trend under the Trump administration’s second term: a concerted effort to consolidate presidential authority, particularly on immigration, often clashing with federal courts. Friday’s ruling marks another instance in which the Supreme Court sided with executive discretion over judicial constraint.
With immigration set to be a central issue in the 2026 midterms, Friday’s ruling is likely to escalate the political and legal battles already simmering across the country.
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