Trump asks SCOTUS to revoke humanitarian status for over half-a-million migrants

WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to slash legal pathways for over half-a-million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who are temporarily in the U.S. for humanitarian needs.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked the Biden-era special parole program in March, but a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from making any changes for now. Trump pushed the justices to reinstate Noem’s policy and correct a “recent, destabilizing trend in immigration cases.

“When lower courts have disregarded Congress’s commands in the INA and usurped the Executive Branch’s control over immigration policy, this Court has not hesitated to intervene and has repeatedly granted complete or partial stays of nationwide orders,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer wrote. “The Court should follow the same course here.”

Trump warned that upholding the parole program would force the administration to undergo “full-bore removal proceedings for each alien,” putting a strain on the already overwhelmed immigration courts.

“The district court has nullified one of the Trump administration’s most consequential immigration policy decisions, revoking Secretary Noem’s decision and maintaining parole for up to two years for 532,000 aliens whose continued presence in the United States the Secretary deems contrary to U.S. interests,” Sauer wrote.

In 2022, then-Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas used a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to grant two-year parole to around 532,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The Trump administration claimed that the mass parole programs deterred against illegal border crossings, but did nothing to clear a path to lawful status.

A group of advocacy groups sued the administration, claiming that Noem’s policy would unnecessarily harm parole beneficiaries and tear families and communities apart.

Karen Tumlin, the founder and director of Justice Action Center, called Trump’s request — asking the Supreme Court to step in before the First Circuit heard the case on appeal — extraordinary. The Justice Action Center represents the advocacy groups.

“Everyone — sponsors, beneficiaries, communities, and the economy alike — benefit from humanitarian parole,” Tumlin said in an email. “Yet, despite the fact it would be counterproductive, unlawful, and deeply harmful, the Trump administration is hellbent on punishing nearly half a million people who did everything the government asked of them in applying for CHNV humanitarian parole.”

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani sided with the immigration groups, stating that the White House’s action was unprecedented and contrary to law. The First Circuit refused to freeze the ruling, finding that Noem hadn’t proven that the parole terminations would hold up on appeal.

Trump railed against the federal courts’ rebuke, claiming that the judiciary had no role in instructing the executive branch how to conduct foreign policy.

“The Constitution and INA grant the Secretary and the political Branches — not the courts — the task of deciding whether it is in the public interest allow up to 532,000 aliens who were never admitted, were paroled en masse, and have not been inspected to remain in the country,” Sauer wrote.

The Supreme Court asked the immigration advocacy groups to respond to Trump’s application by May 15.

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