A U.S. federal judge has inflicted another blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to end a multiple Biden-era parole program for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Afghanistan, Latin America and Ukraine.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to resume processing applications from those migrants who are seeking work permits or renewing their status.
Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, rejected the Trump administration’s claim that suspending the parole programs was within its broad discretion to direct immigration policy.
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Federal law still requires agencies under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to follow a lengthy process for granting or denying parole and other immigration relief, she wrote in siding with migrants pursuing a class action lawsuit.
Talwani also certified a nationwide class, temporarily protecting all individuals in several humanitarian parole programs while the case proceeds.
“This court emphasizes, as it did in its prior order, that it is not in the public interest to manufacture a circumstance in which hundreds of thousands of individuals will, over the course of several months, become unlawfully present in the country, such that these individuals cannot legally work in their communities or provide for themselves and their families,” the judge wrote.
“Nor is it in the public interest for individuals who enlisted and are currently serving in the United States military to face family separation, particularly where some of these individuals joined the military in part to help their loved ones obtain lawful status.”
Some of the applicants were paroled into the U.S. after working with the U.S. military as translators.
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The migrants were granted a two-year “parole” to live in the country under programs established by former President Joe Biden. The programs let migrants and their immediate family members fly to the United States as long as they had sponsors in America. Then, they would be placed on parole for two years.
However, the Trump administration has been trying to end all parole programs as part of its immigration crackdown and has already asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 directing the government to end “all categorical parole programs” set up during the Biden administration.
Last month, Talwani blocked the administration’s effort to revoke parole and work authorization en masse for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, ruling that such actions required case-by-case determinations.
Anwen Hughes, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at Human Rights First, said in a statement that they are pleased with the ruling.
“This ruling reaffirms what we have always known to be true: our government has a legal obligation to respect the rights of all humanitarian parole beneficiaries and the Americans who have welcomed them into their communities,” Hughes said.
“We share the judge’s hope that the government will adhere to this order and immediately resume adjudicating our clients’ applications for relief.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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