Federal judge halts end of family-reunification parole program for 14 days

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Saturday paused the Trump administration’s decision to cancel a family‑reunification parole program that allowed migrants from some Central and South American countries to reunite with relatives in the United States while awaiting visas. In a five‑page order, Judge Indira Talwani of the Federal District Court in Massachusetts granted a 14‑day stay of the administration’s December decision to end the Family Reunification Parole Program.

The Department of Homeland Security had announced on Dec. 12 that it would end the programs for migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras, saying the programs had “security gaps caused by insufficient vetting that malicious and fraudulent actors could exploit to enter the United States.” The administration said migrants enrolled in an F.R.P.

program who did not have a pending permanent residence application would lose their legal status on Jan. 14. A group of migrants challenged the termination on Dec. 29, arguing that D.H.S. “fell well short of satisfying their most basic obligations” of due process and estimating that more than 10,000 migrants, more than a quarter of whom are children, would lose legal status.

Judge Talwani said D.H.S. failed to provide adequate written notice to affected migrants and rejected the department’s claim in a Dec. 15 Federal Register notice that that notice alone satisfied the requirement, saying “D.H.S.

Key Topics

Politics, Family Reunification Parole, Indira Talwani, Dhs, Massachusetts, Due Process