US judge blocks Trump from suspending Biden-era migrant ‘parole’ programs
A U.S. federal judge has inflicted another blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to end a multiple Biden-era parole program for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Afghanistan, Latin America and Ukraine.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to resume processing applications from those migrants who are seeking work permits or renewing their status.
Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, rejected the Trump administration’s claim that suspending the parole programs was within its broad discretion to direct immigration policy.
Federal law still requires agencies under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to follow a lengthy process for granting or denying parole and other immigration relief, she wrote in siding with migrants pursuing a class action lawsuit.
Talwani also certified a nationwide class, temporarily protecting all individuals in several humanitarian parole programs while the case proceeds.
“This court emphasizes, as it did in its prior order, that it is not in the public interest to manufacture a circumstance in which hundreds of thousands of individuals will, over the course of several months, become unlawfully present in the country, such that these individuals cannot legally work in their communities or provide for themselves and their families,” the judge wrote.
“Nor is it in the public interest for individuals who enlisted and are currently serving in the United States military to face family separation, particularly where some of these individuals joined the military in part to help their loved ones obtain lawful status.”
Some of the applicants were paroled into the U.S. after working with the U.S. military as translators.
Judge to block Trump admin’s Harvard foreign students ban
A federal judge in Boston said Thursday that she plans to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University’s certification to host foreign students.
Judge Allison D. Burroughs – who was appointed by former President Barack Obama – already granted Harvard University a temporary restraining order last week, preventing the government from revoking the Ivy League school’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. The program permits the university to host international students with F-1 or J-1 visas to study in the U.S.
Thursday’s hearing centered around the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) doubling down in a notice Wednesday night on the administration’s intent to withdraw Harvard’s certification.
Burroughs said the temporary restraining order would remain in place for now while both parties confer and submit either a joint proposed preliminary injunction order or individual proposed orders for the judge to consider.
After then, Burroughs said she would issue a final preliminary injunction order, but the “status quo” will remain as the process is ongoing.
On Wednesday, Justice Department lawyers submitted to the docket a letter by Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons addressed to Harvard’s leadership. Lyons listed several “compliance issues,” citing the university’s alleged failure to follow reporting requirements, alleged failure to “maintain a campus environment free of violence and antisemitism” and “practices with foreign entities raising national security concerns.”
The letter says a joint-government task force found that Harvard “has failed to confront pervasive race discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment plaguing its campus.” Lyons says evidence obtained by DHS shows “Jewish students on campus were subject to pervasive insults, physical assault, and intimidation, with no meaningful response from Harvard University’s leadership.”
“Meanwhile, pro-Hamas student groups that promoted antisemitism after the October 7 attacks remained recognized and funded,” Lyons wrote.
The letter says DHS also obtained evidence that “creates serious concerns that Harvard University has coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and other foreign entities adverse to national security.”
