A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to restart the processing of immigration applications from migrants residing in the country under humanitarian parole programs, delivering a major victory to thousands of applicants seeking work permits or permanent status.
District Judge Indira Talwani, presiding in Boston, issued the ruling in a class action lawsuit brought by migrants from Afghanistan, Latin America, and Ukraine. The plaintiffs were granted two-year stays under parole initiatives launched during former President Joe Biden’s tenure and had faced delays or rejections after the Trump administration moved to suspend the programs.
Judge Talwani had previously blocked the administration’s efforts to terminate similar parole protections for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—a separate decision now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In her latest ruling, Talwani—an appointee of former President Barack Obama—rejected the administration’s argument that it had broad authority to halt the programs as a matter of executive discretion. She emphasized that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is still bound by federal law and must follow due process in evaluating parole and immigration benefit applications.
“The government cannot simply abandon these programs without legal justification or due process,” Talwani wrote.
Anwen Hughes, an attorney with Human Rights First representing the plaintiffs, welcomed the decision. “The court has once again affirmed that arbitrary policy shifts can’t trample on the rights and hopes of people who followed the law,” Hughes said.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the ruling.
The legal challenge stemmed from the Trump administration’s directive in January to pause all processing related to parole programs established during the Biden administration. On his first day back in office, President Trump signed an executive order ending the initiatives, while Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a memo asserting that categorical parole lacked a legal foundation and should only be used on a case-by-case basis.
The ruling also came the same day a separate U.S. trade court blocked the administration’s proposed tariffs, marking a twin setback to two of Trump’s key policy goals: tougher immigration controls and aggressive trade reform.
With this ruling, DHS is now compelled to resume handling cases for thousands of migrants who had previously been approved for temporary entry or stay in the U.S. under Biden-era parole initiatives.
