Judge blocks Trump from revoking legal status for 530,000+ migrants who flew into US via Biden program

By Louis Casiano, Bill Melugin , Fox News

A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from revoking the legal status and work permits of the more than 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who flew into the United States during former President Joe Biden’s time in office. 

The migrants came to the US under Biden’s controversial controversial CHNV mass humanitarian parole program.

In her order, Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, wrote that each migrant needs to have an individualized, case-by-case review.

“The Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, 90 Fed. Reg. 13611 (Mar. 25, 2025), is hereby STAYED pending further court order insofar as it revokes, without case-by-case review, the previously granted parole and work authorization issued to noncitizens paroled into the United States pursuant to parole programs for noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (the “CHNV parole programs”) prior to the noncitizen’s originally stated parole end date,” she wrote. 

Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, wrote that each migrant needs to have an individualized, case-by-case review. Getty Images

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House. 

Biden created the CHNV program in 2023 via his executive parole authority. The program was launched in 2022 and initially first applied to Venezuelans before it was expanded to additional countries.

The Biden administration argued that CHNV would help reduce illegal crossings at the southern border and allow better vetting of people entering the country amid an influx of migrants. 

The program was temporarily paused after widespread fraud was found. Several recipients were also arrested for high-profile crimes, including multiple child rapes. 

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance walk to welcome the Ohio State University 2025 College Football National Champions, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 14, 2025
President Trump and Vice President Vance walk to welcome the Ohio State University 2025 College Football National Champions, at the White House, on April 14, 2025.REUTERS
Venezuelan migrants flown from Guantanamo Bay via Honduras, walk after arriving on a deportation flight at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, La Guaira State, Venezuela, February 20, 2025.
Venezuelan migrants flown from Guantanamo Bay via Honduras walk after arriving on a deportation flight at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, La Guaira State, Venezuela, on Feb. 20, 2025.REUTERS

CHNV allowed the migrants and their immediate family members to fly into the US if they had American sponsors. They could then remain in the country for two years under a temporary immigration status known as parole.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration said Talwani essentially ruled that Trump can’t use his own executive authority, the same authority Biden used, to revoke the parole that Biden granted.