Trump asks Supreme Court to allow him to end humanitarian parole for
500,000 people from 4 countries
[May 09, 2025]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration asked the
Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to end humanitarian parole for
hundreds of thousands of immigrants from four countries, setting them up
for potential deportation.
The emergency appeal asks the justices to halt a lower-court order
keeping in place temporary legal status for more than 500,000 people
from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The Republican administration argues that the decision wrongly intrudes
on the Department of Homeland Security’s authority.
“The district court has nullified one of the administration’s most
consequential immigration policy decisions,” Solicitor General John
Sauer wrote.
The order from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston blocked the
Trump administration from putting an early end to the migrants'
temporary legal status. Her ruling in mid-April came shortly before
their permits were due to be canceled, opening them up to removal from
the country.
Talwani, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, said
that people in the program faced the option of “fleeing the country” or
staying and “risk losing everything.” She said the government’s
explanation for ending the program was “based on an incorrect reading of
the law.”
The Justice Department went to the Supreme Court after an appeals court
refused to lift Talwani's order.
Sauer argued that the judge was instead wrong on the law, including her
finding that any revocations of parole must be made on a case-by-case
basis. He argued that ending the program early allows the federal
government to remove people from the country more quickly, in line with
the Trump administration’s policy goals.
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President Donald Trump speaks at an event for Military Mothers,
Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the East Room of the White House in
Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The case is the latest in a string of emergency appeals the
administration has made to the Supreme Court, many of them related
to immigration. The government asked the court to strip temporary
legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans last week, and it remains
locked in legal battles over its efforts to swiftly deport people
accused of being gang members to a prison in El Salvador under an
18th century wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act.
Trump promised on the campaign trail to deport millions of people
who are in the country illegally. His administration has also sought
to dismantle policies from President Joe Biden's Democratic
administration that created new ways for people to live legally in
the U.S., generally for two years with work authorization.
Biden used humanitarian parole more than any other president,
employing a special presidential authority in effect since 1952.
Beneficiaries included more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians,
Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who flew to the United States with
financial sponsors on two-year permits since late 2022, with
authorization to work.
Advocates have called the Trump administration’s move to end the
program “unprecedented” and argued that it violated federal
rule-making.
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Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to
this report.
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