The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Trump to revoke legal status for over half a million migrants, gutting a key Biden-era immigration program.
At a Glance
- Supreme Court allows Trump to end legal status for 532,000 CHNV migrants
- Program created by Biden granted two-year humanitarian parole to Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans
- Ruling hands Trump sweeping power to dismantle Biden’s immigration policies
- Justices Sotomayor and Jackson dissented, citing risk of “irreparable harm”
- DHS immediately terminated the program, citing need for expedited removals
Supreme Court Greenlights CHNV Termination
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has handed President Donald Trump a decisive legal victory, allowing him to revoke legal status from over 530,000 migrants admitted under the Biden administration’s CHNV parole program. Designed to provide two-year humanitarian stays for up to 30,000 migrants monthly from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, the program was a cornerstone of Biden’s migration policy.
With this ruling, the Court granted a stay on a lower court’s block, enabling the Trump administration to immediately terminate CHNV. The Department of Homeland Security, now led by Kristi Noem, wasted no time in announcing the move, citing the administration’s priority on restoring expedited removal authority and reducing illegal crossings.
Watch the ruling breakdown: Supreme Court CHNV Ruling Explained.
Dissent Warns of Humanitarian Consequences
In a pointed dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, argued the decision would cause “irreparable harm” to migrants now caught in legal limbo. The justices noted that many CHNV beneficiaries face “difficult choices”—return to unstable homelands or face deportation without recourse. “These people uprooted their lives based on a promise of temporary protection,” the dissent stated.
Despite lower courts ruling that the administration could not cut short the promised two-year status, the majority’s decision signals a broader return to executive discretion over immigration policy—a hallmark of the Trump doctrine and a break from the judicial constraints placed during Biden’s presidency.
Trump’s Immigration Agenda Recharged
The CHNV program’s demise is part of Trump’s sweeping rollback of humanitarian parole policies. Since returning to office, he has also ended similar programs for Afghan evacuees and sharply restricted others—though notably leaving the Ukraine parole program intact. This has drawn praise from immigration hardliners who view the policy as targeted and practical rather than indiscriminately harsh.
Trump has also begun deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members under a wartime provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, part of a broader strategy to accelerate removals amid overcrowded facilities and surging border apprehensions.
Critics charge that the administration is ignoring due process. But Trump officials argue the scale of the problem makes case-by-case review impossible. “You cannot manage half a million parole cases with a clogged system and expect results,” said one DHS official.
Legal and Political Fallout Looms
While the ruling clears the way for mass removals, the legal fight is far from over. The underlying case will now proceed in the appeals process, and civil rights groups are preparing fresh challenges. Meanwhile, congressional Democrats blasted the ruling as “a humanitarian betrayal,” with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling it “an erosion of legal protections for vulnerable communities.”
Still, the decision hands Trump a powerful symbolic and policy win, reinforcing his campaign pledge to overhaul immigration and restore enforcement authority. For his base, it’s a sign that the era of Biden’s open-door approach is over—and a potent rallying cry heading into 2026.
Whether the courts uphold future removals or block them again remains uncertain. But for now, the CHNV program—and the lives of hundreds of thousands—hangs in the balance.
