Trump administration asks Supreme Court for permission to revoke migrants' legal status

Washington DC - The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to revoke the legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow it to revoke the legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow it to revoke the legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.  © Tierney L CROSS / AFP

Solicitor General John Sauer asked for the lifting of a lower court order barring the administration from ending humanitarian protections for migrants from the four nations.

In March, the administration moved to revoke the legal status of some 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who came to the US under a "parole" program launched by former President Joe Biden.

The parole program allowed entry into the US for two years for up to 30,000 migrants per month from the four countries.

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District Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, blocked the administration last month from revoking the legal status of the migrants.

In her order, Talwani said the administration had acted on a flawed interpretation of immigration law, with expedited removal applicable to non-citizens entering the US illegally, but not those authorized to be in the country, such as through the parole program.

Under Trump's revocation, the immigrants would have lost their legal protection effective April 24, just 30 days after the Department of Homeland Security published its order in the Federal Register.

Trump administration targets TPS protections

The Trump administration moved to revoke Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in February 2025.
The Trump administration moved to revoke Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in February 2025.  © JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP

The Trump administration asked the conservative-majority Supreme Court last week to back its bid to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) shielding more than 350,000 Venezuelans from deportation.

Biden extended TPS for another 18 months just days before Trump returned to the White House in January.

The US grants TPS to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters, or other "extraordinary" conditions.

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A federal judge in California put a temporary stay in March on plans by Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem to end deportation protections for the Venezuelan nationals.

Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants.

Among other measures, he invoked an obscure wartime law to fly hundreds of Venezuelan nationals to a prison in El Salvador.

Cover photo: JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP

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