Court rejects challenge to Trump ending thousands of migrants' legal status

13/9/2025 12:33

A federal appeals court rejected on Friday a challenge by immigrant rights advocates to the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans living in the United States.



The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who had decided that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lacked the discretion to end the immigration "parole" granted to about 430,000 migrants under Democratic former President Joe Biden.



Judge Gustavo Gelp, writing for a three-judge 1st Circuit panel, said Noem's action forced parolees who entered the United States lawfully to have to choose suddenly between returning to the dangers in their home countries or staying in the United States and risk being detained and deported.



But Gelpi said lawyers for a class of migrants pursuing the case had failed to make a strong showing that Noem lacked authority under a law called the Immigration and Nationality Act to categorically end their parole. All three judges on the panel were appointed by Democratic presidents.