US appeals court rejects Trump's request to end legal status for 400,000 migrants

ISTANBUL

A federal appeals court on Monday denied a request from the Trump administration to end temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who reside in the US, according to Newsweek.

The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston declined to stay a lower court ruling that blocked the Department of Homeland Security from terminating a humanitarian parole program that allows the migrants to stay in the US, the report says.

The parole program, introduced during former US President Joe Biden’s administration, had allowed migrants from countries such as Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to legally enter the US on a temporary basis.

On March 25, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to terminate the two-year parole previously granted to approximately 400,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants.

The court's ruling follows a lawsuit filed by immigrant rights advocates against the Department of Homeland Security. The suit challenged the department’s decision to terminate several parole programs implemented under the Biden administration, which allowed migrants from several countries to legally enter the US on a temporary basis.

Karen Tumlin, a lawyer from the Justice Action Center, which filed the lawsuit, welcomed the decision. She described the Trump administration’s actions as “reckless and illegal.”

According to Newsweek, the Trump administration may appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court.