(The Center Square) – Deportation of nearly 500,000 people illegally in the country was cleared by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, handing a victory to the Trump administration.
The decision puts a hold on a lower court’s decision to allow people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to remain in the U.S. for two years through a Biden-era decision. The case will continue to play out in lower courts.
Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump instructing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “terminate all categorical parole programs,” which included the CHNV (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela parole program).
In the ruling from the Supreme Court, the court said that “parole is discretionary by statute.”
“DHS awards the parole status through a competitive and detailed application process that involves a rigorous, individualized assessment of the applicant’s circumstances,” the justices said.
In the complaint filed in the Boston court detailed in the Supreme Court’s ruling, Talwani said Noem “acted arbitrarily and capriciously, contrary to law, and in excess of her legal authority by prematurely terminating their parole.”
The court did not sign the order; however, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the ruling.
The lawsuits were filed after the Trump administration terminated the Biden administration-era CHNV Parole program that was used to facilitate the illegal entry of more than 531,000 citizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela into the U.S., The Center Square exclusively reported.
Under the Biden administration, more than three million illegally entered the U.S. or attempted illegal entry from CHNV countries, The Center Square exclusively reported. They totaled more than the population of 20 individual U.S. states.
The ruling comes after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to terminate temporary protected status for roughly 600,000 Venezuelans, The Center Square reported.