Supreme Court lets Trump end humanitarian parole for over 500K immigrants

350,000 Venezuelans at risk after SCOTUS ruling

The Supreme Court has permitted the Trump administration to remove legal protections for 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially leading to their deportation. Christina Evans from LiveNOW is discussing the situation with immigration attorney Susham M. Modi.

The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to end temporary humanitarian protections for more than 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela – for now. 

The high court did not explain its reasoning in the brief, but two justices publicly dissented. 

The order applies to about 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who came to the United States since October 2022 as part of the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) program. They arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work.

Why Trump wants to terminate migrant protections 

The backstory:

The Supreme Court’s emergency ruling comes after a federal judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration’s push to end the program.

FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court building (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump promised on the campaign trail to deport millions of people, and in office has sought to dismantle Biden administration policies that created ways for migrants to live legally in the U.S.  Trump also amplified false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio, including those with legal status under the humanitarian parole program, were abducting and eating pets 

Biden used humanitarian parole more than any other president, employing a special presidential authority in effect since 1952.

What they're saying:

The Justice Department maintains that protections for people fleeing turmoil in their home countries were always meant to be temporary, and the Department of Homeland Security has the power to revoke them without court interference.

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The other side:

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in dissent that the effect of the high court’s order is "to have the lives of half a million migrants unravel all around us before the courts decide their legal claims." Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined the dissent.

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By the numbers:

In addition to the 532,000 migrants from four countries, justices have also allowed the administration to revoke temporary legal status from about 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in another case. Nearly 1 million people are now newly exposed to potential deportation. 

Trump admin offers $1,000 to migrants who self deport

The Trump administration says it is going to pay immigrants in the United States illegally who’ve returned to their home country voluntarily $1,000 as it pushes forward with its mass deportation agenda. The Department of Homeland Security said it’s also paying for travel assistance and that those people who use an app called CBP Home to tell the government that they plan to return home will be "deprioritized" for detention and removal by immigration enforcement.

Dig deeper:

The Trump administration’s decision was the first-ever mass revocation of humanitarian parole, attorneys for the migrants said. They called the Trump administration’s moves "the largest mass illegalization event in modern American history."

What's next:

The Supreme Court's order is not a final ruling, but it means the humanitarian protections will not be in place while the case proceeds. It now returns to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.