NOTE: This case was previously titled “CHIRLA v. Noem,” but has been updated to reflect the administration’s staffing changes.
On March 24, 2025, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), UndocuBlack Network (UBN), and CASA, with legal representation from Justice Action Center, filed a lawsuit to halt the Trump administration’s attempt to strip certain immigrants of their due process rights. The administration is using the deeply flawed deportation process called “expedited removal” —to summarily deport immigrants without a hearing or an attorney. Under expedited removal, people don’t have an opportunity to go before a judge, don’t have time to gather evidence and often can’t access counsel and due process. This lawsuit is to ensure that everyone in the United States – regardless of where they were born – can access the right to due process that is enshrined in our Constitution.
We filed this lawsuit in a federal district court in the District of Columbia on behalf of members of the plaintiffs’ organizations who were granted parole at a border port of entry, through Operation Allies Welcome, or were sponsored under the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela (CHNV) humanitarian parole program.
This lawsuit was filed the day before the publication of a Federal Register Notice that would strip those granted parole through the CHNV humanitarian parole program of their work authorization and lawful status on April 24, 2025.
On August 1, 2025, the district court issued a stay on the administration’s application of expedited removal to those who entered the U.S. on parole, stating, “This case presents a question of fair play. Plaintiffs’ members, and hundreds of thousands of others like them, fled oppressive regimes and perilous conditions in their home countries… In a world of bad options, they played by the rules. Now, the Government has not only closed off those pathways for new arrivals but changed the game for parolees already here, restricting their ability to seek immigration relief and subjecting them to summary removal despite statutory law prohibiting the Executive Branch from doing so.”
On September 12, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the government’s request to stay, or pause, the district court’s order to protect those paroled into the United States from a form of fast-tracked deportation known as expedited removal. This ruling left in place the district court’s order, issued on August 1, which found that government directives issued in 2025 targeting people who entered via humanitarian parole for expedited removal were unlawful.
However, on August 11, 2026, the Court of Appeals lifted the district court’s order, allowing the government’s directives applying expedited removal to parole beneficiaries to go back into effect. The Court held that our plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the 2025 directives because the administration has the separate authority under regulations issued in 1997–which were not challenged at the emergency relief stage–to subject parole beneficiaries to expedited removal. We have filed a motion for summary judgment at the district court to challenge both the 1997 regulatory authority the government is relying on and the 2025 directives. We will continue fighting for full, permanent protections for parole beneficiaries.
Press releases:
- 9/12/25 : Trump Attempt to Fast Track Some Deportations Blocked Again by Court
- 8/1/25: Federal Court Finds Trump Administration’s Use of Expedited Removal for Parolees Contrary to Statute
- 3/27/25: Groups File Suit to Protect Due Process for Immigrants
News coverage: