The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the administration of President Donald Trump to terminate humanitarian parole programs for more than half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who were in the country on legal grounds. The decision effectively halted a previous ruling by a federal court in Boston, which had ordered the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to resume processing applications under these humanitarian programs — including Uniting for Ukraine (U4U).
The Supreme Court’s order came in response to an emergency appeal from the administration to overturn the injunction. The decision does not explicitly mention Ukrainian refugees or the U4U program, but the Ukrainian case was part of the Doe v. Mayorkas lawsuitwhich the lower court had partially upheld.
As a result, despite the initial court’s favorable decision that required USCIS to restart the review of re-parole applications, work permits, temporary protection, and adjustment of status, that ruling is now effectively suspended. While U4U remains technically active, its future is uncertain, and the processing of applications continues to be frozen.
Legal experts warnsthat immigrants admitted under CHNV programs now face possible deportation without court hearings, and their work authorizations could be revoked. The case sets a troubling precedent for other groups — including Afghans, Ukrainians, and children from Central America — who entered the U.S. under similar programs.
Refugee advocacy groups urge people not to panic but to prepare for further legal battles. Karen Tumlin of the Justice Action Center called the ruling “catastrophic for hundreds of thousands of people who just yesterday had lawful status,” saying it “opens the door for Trump’s dream of mass deportation.”
To remind you,a federal court in Massachusetts had ruled that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must immediately resume processing immigration applications from individuals who entered the country under humanitarian programs such as Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) and CHNV, warning that the suspension of these programs threatened thousands of lives and denied humanitarian migrants a path to stability.
That ruling was a result of Doe et al v. Mayorkas et al, filed with the support of legal and human rights organizations including the Justice Action Center, Human Rights First, and Haitian Bridge Alliance. The court had deemed unlawful a USCIS memorandum from February 14 that effectively froze the review of all applications from humanitarian migrants, leading to delays in work permits, re-parole, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), permanent residency (Form I-485), and other benefits.
Author: Danylo Pievchev