For more than 70 years, Republican and Democratic administrations alike have used humanitarian parole processes to allow people to enter the country for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. Now, in an unprecedented and unlawful move, the Trump administration is ending these critical processes—some of the last remaining safe and legal pathways for individuals to reach the United States—which will unnecessarily harm parole beneficiaries and sponsors, tear apart families and communities, and further weaken the U.S. economy.
Eleven beneficiaries, seven sponsors, and organizational plaintiff Haitian Bridge Alliance—from Massachusetts, New York, Georgia, Nebraska, Wisconsin, California, and beyond—are suing the Trump Administration over its termination of these crucial humanitarian parole processes. These include: Central American Minors Parole, Family Reunification Parole, Military Parole-in-Place, Uniting for Ukraine, Operation Allies Welcome, and the processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, known as “CHNV humanitarian parole”. Plaintiffs are also challenging the Administration’s order to USCIS to halt processing on all pending applications for these processes and any other alternative immigration benefits that may offer potential relief. We filed a motion for preliminary injunction asking the court to pause or temporarily block the government’s actions while the case moves through the courts.
In 2023, Justice Action Center and partners successfully defended the CHNV humanitarian parole processes after they were challenged by Texas and other states. Now, in Svitlana, JAC and Human Rights First are representing clients who represent several more humanitarian parole processes.
In claiming that “categorical” humanitarian parole programs are unlawful—despite the fact that administrations have used such “categorical” parole programs for the past 70 years—Trump is setting a dangerous precedent, attempting to limit the executive power of future presidents to create these beneficial legal pathways and depriving future generations of humanitarian parole.
On March 25th, the Trump Administration published a Federal Register Notice (FRN) revoking the lawful status and work authorizations of hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries of the “CHNV” humanitarian parole process for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. Key takeaways here. On April 14th, the Judge issued an order temporarily blocking the FRN’s early terminations of CHNV parole nationwide and certified a class of all individuals who have received a grant of parole that is subject to the CHNV FRN, who are still in the United States, and who choose not to opt out of the class to seek relief in separate litigation.
On May 28th, the Judge granted additional relief and certified additional classes, ordering that adjudication of the following applications resume for individuals nationwide who are currently in the country: (1) pending immigration benefits requests filed by people granted parole under the CHNV, Uniting for Ukraine, Operation Allies Welcome, Family Reunification Parole, Central American Minors, and Military Parole-in-Place (2) pending re-parole applications filed by people granted parole under programs with re-parole; and (3) initial MPIP applications.
With regards to the judge’s April 14, 2025 order blocking the March 25, 2025 FRN’s early termination of all individual grants of CHNV parole, the government appealed and asked the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and then the Supreme Court, to block the district court’s order while the appeal proceeds. On May 30, 2025, unfortunately, the Supreme Court granted the government’s request to block the district court’s order while the appeal proceeds. As a result, the administration’s termination of the CHNV parole processes has gone into effect.
On September 12, 2025, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that the administration’s early termination of CHNV parole—which immediately stripped hundreds of thousands of CHNV parole beneficiaries of their legal parole status and work authorization—was likely lawful. Because of the Supreme Court’s May 30 stay decision, the First Circuit’s decision creates no change for CHNV parole beneficiaries with regard to their parole status or work authorization.
The litigation over the lawfulness of the CHNV parole termination will still continue at the district court as the parties continue to move the case to final judgment. It also does not affect the district court’s May 28, 2025 order, which requires the government to resume processing the immigration benefits applications of humanitarian parole beneficiaries.
Press releases
- 5/30/25: Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Circumvent District Court’s Ruling and Strip Lawful Immigration Status from Nearly 500,000 People
- 5/28/25: Judge Orders Trump Administration to Restore Processing of Immigration Benefit Applications for Humanitarian Parole Recipients and Certifies Nationwide Class to Ensure All Impacted Individuals are Protected
- 5/5/25: Appeals Court Denies Trump Administration’s Request to Allow it to Revoke Lawful Status of Hundreds of Thousands
- 4/14/25: Judge Temporarily Halts Trump Administration’s Attempt to Revoke Legal Status of Hundreds of Thousands; Grants Class Certification
- 3/21/25: Trump Revokes Lawful Status of Hundreds of Thousands of “CHNV” Humanitarian Parole Beneficiaries in Unprecedented Move
- 3/18/25: Veterans, Ukrainians and Others Join Legal Challenge to Protect Parole as Lawyers File Motion for Preliminary Injunction
- 2/28/25: U.S. Sponsors and Beneficiaries Sue Over Trump’s Attempt to End Humanitarian Parole
- 1/31/25: Trump Administration’s Cruel and Reckless Plans to Revoke the Legal Status of CHNV Humanitarian Parole Beneficiaries Will Inflict Harm Upon Communities Nationwide
News coverage
- 7/15/25 | Axios | Trump’s new wall: His push to oust immigrants legally in the U.S.
- 6/30/25 | KQED | Journalists Fleeing Authoritarian Regimes Now at Risk, as Trump Ends Parole Program
- 6/13/25 | Miami Herald | ‘Leave Immediately’: Trump administration orders self-deportation for Biden-era parolees
- 6/11/25 | WLRN | Can the ‘broken promise’ principle stop Trump from axing migrants’ parole?
- 6/5/25 | Mother Jones | Humanitarian Parole Is Over. Now Comes the Fear.
- 5/30/25 | AP | Supreme Court lets Trump end legal protections for 500,000 migrants, exposing more to deportation
- 5/30/25 | USA Today | Supreme Court lets Trump revoke safe-haven program for Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans
- 5/6/25 | The Hill | Court rejects Trump administration request to revoke some migrants’ protected status
- 5/6/25 | Miami Herald | Trump administration loses appeal in bid to revoke parole for Cubans, other migrants
- 5/5/25 | Reuters | US appeals court rejects Trump bid to revoke thousands of migrants’ status
- 4/18/2025 | NPR | Some asylum seekers wonder if it’s worth staying in the U.S. to fight their cases
- 4/15/2025 | The New York Times | Court Temporarily Blocks Trump’s Shuttering of Migrant Entry Program
- 4/14/2025 | Bloomberg Law| Judge Pauses Trump Bid to End Migrant Parole for Thousands
- 4/10/2025 | Reuters | US judge to block Trump from revoking thousands of migrants’ legal status
- 4/7/25 | WGBH | Federal judge in Mass. considers arguments in parole programs case
- 4/4/25 | States Newsroom | Trump administration says emails ‘sent in error’ ordering Ukrainians to leave the U.S.
- 3/27/25 | Univision | Demandan cancelación del ‘parole’ humanitario porque expone a sus beneficiarios a deportaciones expeditas
- 3/26/25 | CBS | More than half a million Latin American, Haitian immigrants given deadline to self-deport
- 3/25/25 | Miami Herald | Judge weighs lawsuit on Trump move to revoke legal status for a half-million migrants
- 3/22/25 | BBC | Trump revoking protections for Cubans, Haitians and other migrants
- 3/21/25 | AP | Homeland Security revokes temporary status for 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (en español aquí)
- 3/4/25 | KJZZ | New lawsuit aims to revive Trump administration’s cancellation of humanitarian parole programs
- 3/1/25 | The Associated Press | Trump cutoff of humanitarian parole for immigrants from Ukraine, 6 other countries challenged