Overview
- U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction on Jan. 25 that bars DHS from ending humanitarian parole for more than 8,400 people from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, pending further court action.
- Those affected entered legally under Biden-era family reunification programs that allow U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor relatives while they await immigrant visas.
- DHS announced on Dec. 12 that it would terminate the programs as inconsistent with current enforcement priorities and allegedly abused to bypass traditional parole, with cancellation slated for Jan. 14 before a temporary restraining order paused it.
- Talwani wrote that the agency provided no evidence to substantiate fraud allegations and failed to consider whether beneficiaries who sold homes or left jobs could feasibly return.
- The case is a class-action challenge to broader parole rollbacks; Talwani’s prior, larger injunction covering roughly 430,000 people was later lifted by the Supreme Court and overturned on appeal.