Supreme Court allows Trump to end legal protections for 500,000 immigrants
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An exterior view of the Supreme Court on June 20, 2024, in Washington, DC. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The Trump administration can for now end a program that gave temporary protections to more than 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the Supreme Court said Friday."
The big picture: In a strongly worded dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the high court "plainly botched" its assessment and undervalued the "devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens" amid pending legal claims.
Catch up quick: A federal judge in April temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking the Biden-era protections under the under the CHNV program.
- The parole programs had granted the immigrants temporary legal protections after they fled violence in their home countries.
- In a January order, Trump instructed the Department of Homeland Security to "[t]erminate all categorical parole programs" that he said were "contrary to the policies of the United States" established in his orders, including CHNV.
Driving the news: The order from the court noted that Jackson and Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from granting the application for a stay on the lower court's order.
- Jackson argued the government failed to satisfy its burden of demonstrating harm, saying ending the program will have "devastating consequences. "
- "While it is apparent that the Government seeks a stay to enable it to inflict maximum predecision damage, court-ordered stays exist to minimize—not maximize—harm to litigating parties," she wrote.
Friction point: Solicitor general D. John Sauer argued in his request to the Supreme Court that Immigration and Nationality Act grants Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem authority to revoke parole and that District Judge Indira Talwani overstepped in her order.
- Talwani wrote in her April order that terminating legal status early for noncitizens who complied with DHS programs and lawfully entered the country without any case-by-case justification "undermines the rule of law."
Flashback: Under former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the program allowed migrants to fly into the U.S. if they had a sponsor and passed security checks.
- Those who entered through the program could stay for up to two years.
Zoom out: Earlier this month, the court allowed the Trump administration to strip deportation protections from some 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants.
Go deeper: Trump admin asks Supreme Court to restart South Sudan deportations
