Obama judge prevents Trump admin from eliminating 'flawed' Biden migrant parole program



A Massachusetts-based Obama judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from ending the Biden administration's CHNV parole programs, which allowed multitudes of otherwise inadmissible migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to flood into the country.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also certified a class of all those foreign nationals who received a grant of parole affected by the DHS' termination of the program.

Talwani, a daughter of immigrants from India and Germany, claimed that the Trump administration "offered no substantial reason or public interest that justifies forcing individuals who were granted parole in the United States for a specific duration to leave (or move into undocumented status) in advance of the original date their parole was set to expire."

"Nor is it in the public interest to summarily declare that hundreds of thousands of individuals are no longer considered lawfully present in the country," continued Talwani. "The early termination, without any case-by-case justification, of legal status for noncitizens who have complied with DHS programs and entered the country lawfully undermines the rule of law."

Ironically, the Biden administration appears to have played fast and loose with the law when admitting migrants into the country under the CHNV parole program.

Background

The House Judiciary Committee noted in a November report, "Through CHNV, each month up to 30,000 aliens, who otherwise have no basis to enter the country and who have 'a supporter' in the United States, can bypass the U.S. border and fly directly into the country 'on commercial flights' to be 'granted parole' for a period of two years by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security."

While federal law requires that the DHS secretary use his parole authority on a "case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit," former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas apparently figured it better to permit inadmissible aliens en masse — the consequences of which were felt across the country but especially in Springfield, Ohio, which was overwhelmed by Haitian nationals.

'This fundamentally flawed program must be permanently dismantled.'

According to the report, over 531,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans had entered the country via the program as of September 2024.

Congressional investigators noted that in addition to the issue of the Biden administration flouting federal law, the program was "plagued by so much fraud that DHS itself was forced to pause the program in July 2024."

Blaze News previously reported that an internal probe found that over 100,000 applicants were backed by approximately 3,000 serial sponsors.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), among the many Republican lawmakers who criticized the program, said in a Sept. 10 letter to Mayorkas, "This fundamentally flawed program must be permanently dismantled. The program has not only facilitated widespread fraud, but has also exposed serious vulnerabilities in our immigration system, leading to dire consequences for public safety."

Despite its awareness that foreign nationals were recycling Social Security numbers, addresses, and phone numbers in their applications, the Biden administration resumed the program the following month.

Eliminating the program

On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to "terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders, including the program known as the 'Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.'"

The Department of Homeland Security followed through, announcing last month in the Federal Register that it was terminating the CHNV parole programs on March 25.

'The [DHS] Secretary's discretion in this area is broad.'

Foreign nationals whose temporary parole period in the U.S. under the program had not already expired were notified that their paroles would terminate on April 24 "unless the Secretary makes an individual determination to the contrary."

The DHS noted further that parolees without a lawful basis to remain in the country had to leave the U.S. before their parole termination date. Those who remained unlawfully would be deported.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted, "These are the 530,000 illegal immigrants that Joe Biden flew to the United States on the taxpayers [sic] dime. They're welcome to self-deport using the newly repurposed CBP Home App!"

Lawsuit

Justice Action Center, Human Rights First, and Haitian Bridge Alliance sued on behalf of foreign nationals to prevent the Trump administration from ending the previous administration's parole processes. They found a fellow activist in Talwani.

The Obama judge acknowledged that her "role in reviewing agency action in this area is limited" and that "the [DHS] Secretary's discretion in this area is broad" but nevertheless made clear she would meddle anyway.

Talwani said that the migrants have standing to challenge the shortening of their grant of parole, noting that if their "parole status is allowed to lapse, Plaintiffs will be faced with two unfavorable options: continue following the law and leave the country on their own, or await removal proceedings."

The judge suggested that both options were undesirable.

Talwani noted that if required to depart the U.S., then migrants might undergo family separation, forfeit opportunities to obtain a remedy for their Administrative Procedure Act claims, and face dangers back in their respective homelands. If they remain in the country illegally, then they will lose their legal work authorization and possibly face arrest, wrote the judge.

To spare foreign nationals from an election-backed reversal of Democratic policy, Talwani ruled to temporarily preserve the legal status of CHNV migrants and block the DHS' enforcement on April 24.

"Hundreds of thousands of our neighbors will go to sleep tonight knowing that the Trump administration's attempts to delegitimize and criminalize our communities have been thwarted, for now," Guerline Jozef, founder of Haitian Bridge Alliance, said in a statement.

"The court rightly recognized the harm the government's arbitrary decision-making was threatening in the lives of innocent people," said Anwen Hughes, a legal strategist at Human Rights First.

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EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Strips Parole From Thousands Of Aliens On Terror Watchlist

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Blaze News investigates: Springfield sees lives saved, Haitian exodus thanks to Trump's deportation threats



Republicans and other politicos identified Springfield, Ohio, in the lead-up to the 2024 election as municipal proof of the ruinous nature of the Biden administration's immigration policies.

Much was said about Springfield, and a great deal was promised in the way of possible remedies; however, the spotlight has since shifted and national attention along with it.

Blaze News recently reached out to city officials, local law enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security in hopes of ascertaining whether anything has actually changed — for better or worse.

While the mayor and elements of his office are tight-lipped about the matter, the head of the Tremont City Police Department in the greater Springfield metropolitan area revealed that a great deal has changed socially and demographically since November — and that much of it can be attributed to President Donald Trump.

"I can't even fathom how bad it could be if that election went completely opposite," said TCPD Chief Chad Duncan. "There were people living in tents behind businesses, just inside of the wood line. The parks were overrun with homeless immigrants, and you don't see that now."

"So I guess you got to thank the good Lord that He decided to give us what we asked for, which was President Trump, and he did it in a very timely fashion," added Duncan.

Before

The blue-collar city, which had a population of just over 58,000 in 2020, was flooded over a short period of time by tens of thousands of Haitian migrants.

The majority of these migrants were temporarily authorized to stay under humanitarian parole programs, including the Biden administration's controversial Cuban Haitian Nicaraguan Venezuelan parole program, which authorized 211,010 Haitian parolees by October 2024.

Many of those who flocked to Springfield initially entered the country illegally — as Vice President JD Vance suggested, to the liberal media's displeasure, during the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate — but were spared deportation on account of Haiti's Temporary Protected Status.

If a nation has an ongoing armed conflict, has an environmental disaster, or faces other extraordinary conditions, the DHS secretary can designate that country for TPS, thereby shielding its nationals squatting in the U.S. from deportation for a period of six to 18 months.

Biden's DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reinstated Haiti's TPS in 2021, then kept doubling down in subsequent years, expanding eligibility for protection along the way.

'We have had this influx that has taxed all these services.'

The rapid population growth experienced by Springfield, which was driven by the influx of largely deportation-immune Haitian migrants who in many cases were entitled under federal law to exploit public benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid, resulted in immense strains on the city's health care, law enforcement, housing, and schools.

The New York Times noted, for instance, that between 2021 and 2023, Springfield's health clinic saw a 13-fold increase in Haitian patients, which left its staff and budget greatly overburdened.

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told PBS News last year, "The infrastructure of the city, our safety forces, our hospitals, our schools — Springfield is a close community and has a big heart, but at the same point, we have had this influx that has taxed all these services."

Citizens' unease over the migrant crisis — which at one point prompted a petition to recall the entire city commission — was exacerbated by cultural differences with elements of the Haitian population; harassment; special treatment afforded to migrant students; concerns over wage suppression and job replacement by migrants; allegations of Haitians eating pets and wildlife; and a significant spike in Haitian-caused traffic accidents.

'It's been overrun. You can't do that to people.'

One accident in particular prompted some Ohioans to rethink their acceptance of the new reality foisted on them by the Biden administration .

Hermanio Joseph, a Haitian immigrant who had been in the country for roughly one year, took to the roads of Clark County, Ohio, on Aug. 22, 2023, in a minivan without a driver's license. Driving recklessly, he veered across the center line of State Route 41 and into a school bus full of children, injuring 23 and taking the life of an 11-year-old American boy, Aiden Clark.

Following the horrific crash, numerous citizens made abundantly clear at the Aug. 28, 2023, city commission meeting that they were reaching their breaking point. Things would, however, get worse before they could get better.

After

When asked whether there have been any signs of progress or relief in the migrant crisis in Springfield following the election, Chief Duncan told Blaze News, "Things have changed drastically."

"When our president got elected, it seems that a majority [of the Haitian migrants] packed up and either went to New York or Florida," said Duncan. "At one point, you couldn't even find luggage in the vicinity because they'd all been bought up because they were leaving."

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance indicated on the campaign trail that they would send packing many of the Haitian migrants paroled and/or granted temporary protected status by the Biden administration.

"We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country," Trump told reporters in September. "And we're going to start with Springfield and Aurora, [Colorado.]"

"It has nothing to do with Haiti or anything else. You have to remove the people, and you have to bring them back to their own country," Trump told NewsNation the following month. "Springfield is such a beautiful place. Have you seen what's happened to it? It's been overrun. You can't do that to people."

Sure enough, on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order instructing the DHS secretary to "terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders, including the program known as the 'Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.'"

The DHS indicated in an unpublished notice obtained by CBS News late last month that the Trump administration was planning to revoke the parole status of those allowed into the U.S. under the CHNV program. Those who have not yet obtained asylum, a green card, or TPS would be placed in deportation proceedings.

Like the 350,000 Venezuelan migrants who will soon lose work permits and temporary protection from deportation following DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's Feb. 1 decision, Haitian migrants could soon lose their temporary protected status.

During his first term, Trump tried to revoke TPS for Haitian migrants but was blocked by a California-based Obama judge. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately vacated U.S. District Judge Edward Chen's injunction but did not issue its directive to the lower court to make that ruling effective.

There appears now to be an opportunity and the political resolve to go the distance. Trump has vowed to terminate the TPS designation for Haiti.

The DHS had no comment on the proposed revocation of CHNV parolees' legal statuses or whether Noem will soon terminate Haiti's designation for TPS.

While CHNV legal statuses appear not to have yet been revoked en masse and there has been no announcement of Haitian migrants losing their protected status, multitudes of Haitian nationals in Springfield apparently weren't keen on waiting around for the other shoe to drop.

Following the election, there were reports of large numbers of Haitian migrants bailing out of Springfield in anticipation of possible deportation efforts.

"People are fully aware of the election result, and that is why they are leaving," Jacob Payen, co-founder of the Haitian Community Alliance, told the Guardian in November. "They are afraid of a mass deportation."

Chief Duncan told Blaze News that the fear of Trump's promised deportations was heightened by the understanding that "Ohio is not a sanctuary state and Springfield is not a sanctuary city" and by the clear presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the area.

'Our death toll would have probably been extremely high if some of those migrants didn't vacate this area.'

"As soon as he was elected, they were rolling out by the droves," continued Duncan. "It could only be that they feared they were going to be deported right then and there."

The exodus of migrants has transformed Springfield, suggested Duncan.

"We haven't had as many vehicle accidents. Our hospitals are not full like they were all last year. Our schools are starting to go back to normal class sizes," said the police chief.

Duncan indicated that those migrants who have remained are for the most part "following the letter of the law now" and have done the work to get their driver's licenses.

"I haven't towed any Haitians' vehicles in the last three or four months," he said. "The people that want to stay here are doing the right things to make sure that they are able to stay, and the ones that did whatever they wanted to — it seems they vacated."

Duncan indicated that Trump's threat of deportation not only prompted positive change but may have saved lives.

"Our death toll would have probably been extremely high if some of those migrants didn't vacate this area and go elsewhere," said Chief Duncan. "I mean, they were living in the woods, in tents behind businesses, and this kind of cold weather — they would have never made it."

The exodus of migrants also meant that there is more housing availability for those who remain as well as less strain on local resources during what has ended up being a "really, really bad winter."

Blaze News reached out to Mayor Rob Rue and City Manager Bryan Heck for comment about the migrant crisis and the apparent exodus of Haitians. A city spokeswoman indicated that they "are not providing any comments on these matters at this time."

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Biden DHS' flight scheme landed over 160,000 'inadmissible aliens' in Florida inside an 8-month window



The Biden administration is quietly loading Florida up with foreign nationals who have no business being in the country by way of the Department of Homeland Security's controversial Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) mass-parole program.

This apparent illegal-immigration workaround, which Republicans have called "unlawful," could prove impactful for the Sunshine State as well as for the rest of the country. After all, the DHS' imports are likely to put additional stress on citizen resources in Florida, such as hospitals, which a recent report indicates were put out $566 million last year on account of illegal aliens.

Background

The Biden DHS launched the CHNV parole program in late 2022 in an apparent effort to both spare prospective illegal aliens from having to jump the border and to lower the Biden administration's egregious border-jumper statistics.

The DHS announced in January 2023 that prospective CHNV migrants "who have a supporter in the United States, undergo and clear robust security vetting, and meet other eligibility criteria" can apply for advance authorization to fly to an interior port of entry in the United States.The program grants up to a two-year parole for up to 30,000 CHNV nationals per month.

A U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas noted in March that by June 2023, the DHS had approved 97.5% of the applications for CHNV nationals.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicated that as of March, "404,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans arrived lawfully on commercial flights and were granted parole under these processes. Specifically, 86,000 Cubans, 168,000 Haitians, 77,000 Nicaraguans, 102,000 Venezuelans were vetted and authorized for travel; and 84,000 Cubans, 154,000 Haitians, 69,000 Nicaraguans, and 95,000 Venezuelans arrived lawfully and were granted parole."

Upon the implementation of the program, 21 states filed suit, claiming that the program exceeds the authority of the DHS and its secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas; failed to include a notice and comment period; and is arbitrary and capricious.

The states' complaint suggested the DHS has "effectively created a new visa program — without the formalities of legislation from Congress."

"The parole program established by the Department fails each of the law's three limiting factors. It is not case-by-case, is not for urgent humanitarian reasons, and advances no significant public benefit," continued the complaint. "The Department does not have the authority to invite more than a third of a million more illegal aliens into the United States annually as it has announced with this program."

Texas also argued that the CHNV program was also harmful because migrants approved under the scheme qualify for state services such as health care and public education, reported the Texas Tribune.

U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton ruled in favor of the Biden administration on March 8, enabling the scheme to keep going.

Damning figures

On Tuesday, House Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee revealed some troubling details about the Biden Department of Homeland Security's CHNV scheme.

According to the internal data the committee obtained via subpoena, 1.6 million inadmissible aliens were awaiting travel authorizations through the CHNV program as of October 2023. If accepted by the DHS, as most are, then they would join more than 400,000 others, including the roughly 200,000 migrants flown into the U.S. then processed by the DHS under the program between January and August — the bulk of whom ended up in Florida.

The committee indicated during that 8-month window, 91,821 migrants flew into Miami, Florida; 60,461 flew into Ft. Lauderdale; 6,043 flew into Orlando; and 3,237 flew into Tampa under the program.

The top 15 airport locations used for the CHNV program also included New York City, which received 14,827 between January and August 2023; Houston, 7,923; Los Angeles, 3,237; Dallas, 2,256; San Francisco, 2,052; Atlanta, 1,796; and Washington, D.C., which received 1,472.

— (@)

The internal DHS documents apparently indicate that none of the migrants have a legal basis to enter the U.S., explicitly stating, "All individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible, including those paroled under the CHNV Processes."

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the committee, said in a statement, "These documents expose the egregious lengths Secretary Mayorkas will go to ensure inadmissible aliens reach every corner of the country, from Orlando and Atlanta to Las Vegas and San Francisco. Secretary Mayorkas' CHNV parole program is an unlawful sleight of hand used to hide the worsening border crisis from the American people."

"Implementing a program that allows otherwise inadmissible aliens to fly directly into the U.S. — not for significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian reasons as the Immigration and Nationality Act mandates — has been proven an impeachable offense," added Green.

Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), told Fox News in a statement, "Biden's parole program is unlawful, and constitutes an abuse of constitutional authority. Florida is currently suing Biden to shut it down, and we believe that we will prevail."

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Haitian migrant in US legally on Biden's 'parole' program allegedly rapes teen girl



A Haitian migrant residing in Massachusetts has been legally accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

At about 7 p.m. on Wednesday, police received a report of a sexual assault at the Comfort Inn in Rockland, Massachusetts, about 20 miles south of Boston. The hotel is currently being used as a migrant shelter.

When they arrived, they learned that Cory Alvarez, a 26-year-old Haitian national, had allegedly attacked a 15-year-old girl. Both are migrants who have been staying at the shelter, but whether the two know each other is unclear.

"The victim reviewed the photos, pointed at the defendant’s photo, and said that’s the man who raped me," said a prosecutor.

The girl was then taken to an area hospital for treatment.

Alvarez was arrested and charged with one count of aggravated rape of a child with a more than 10-year age gap. He pled not guilty to the charge on Thursday morning. He was denied bond and forced to surrender his passport pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for next week.

ICE has also reportedly lodged a detainer request for Alvarez, though Massachusetts courts have ignored such requests in the recent past. Last fall, a court in Dorchester released from custody Pierre Lucard Emile, an illegal immigrant from Haiti, even though he had been accused of raping a disabled person. He was arrested by ICE eight weeks later.

Alvarez emigrated from Haiti to the United States last June as part of the Biden administration's "parole" program. Begun in October 2022 and then expanded three months later, the program allows a total of 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to come to the United States legally each month so long as they have a sponsor and can pass "certain checks," Fox News reported. Once here, migrants can remain for two years and even gain work permits.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed that the program provides a "safe and orderly way" for migrants from these countries "to reach the United States" as part of a larger plan to control migration to America from other countries in the Western Hemisphere.

According to reports, Alvarez secured a sponsor in New Jersey and had no prior criminal record before arriving in the U.S.

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Mugger on parole for attempted robbery dies after two men he tried to rob with fake gun turned the tables on him with martial arts



A mugger who was on parole for attempted robbery died after two men he tried to rob with a fake gun Sunday on Staten Island turned the tables on him and fought back, the New York Daily News reported.

The pair of men Robert Compton tried to rob used martial arts to defend themselves, WABC-TV reported.

What are the details?

Compton, 33, allegedly approached the men around 1:55 a.m. near Pacific Avenue and St. Albans Place in the Eltingville neighborhood as they walked home from a bar, police and sources told the Daily News.

Compton allegedly told them to “give me all your s**t,” sources added to the paper.

But one of the men grabbed the fake gun, and the pair fought back, wrestling with Compton and restraining him as one of them got behind Compton, grabbed him around the neck, and pulled him to the ground while the other called 911, sources told the Daily News.

Compton fell unconscious during the struggle, the paper noted.

“He robbed us at gunpoint,” one of the men told responding officers, according to the Daily News.

Police performed CPR on Compton before he was rushed to Staten Island University Hospital North where he died, the paper reported, adding that the two men were taken to the same hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

What else do we know about Compton?

Compton had a long criminal history, sources told the Daily News, which also included grand larceny. WABC said he also assaulted a police officer.

He spent over four years in prison for an attempted robbery charge and was paroled in December 2019, the paper said.

The city Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Compton’s body but said more tests are needed to determine his exact cause of death, the Daily News noted.

Compton's family has questions

New York City police and the Richmond County District Attorney's Office are looking into why Compton died during what police said was an attempted robbery, WABC said.

Compton's family has questions, too.

"It sounds like it should be investigated a lot more," cousin George Pirola noted to WABC.

"So, two guys, why didn't they just hold him down, call 911. That's that," Pirola added to the station, noting that "I'm experienced in martial arts; my wife is too, and you know when you have somebody passed out, and you let it go at that point."

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Pirola also told WABC that "it didn't sound right to me. You know, two martial arts guys from what I read knocked the gun out of his hand and then choked him out. But they choked him to death. Basically they killed the kid after they had him choked out."

Despite Compton's criminal history, Pirola added to the station that "he's got some scrapes, but nothing like that. I couldn't imagine him trying to do something like that."

The other side of the story

“I’ve known him since he was a little boy,” Richard Vitale said of one of the men who turned the tables on Compton, according to the Daily News. “He’s a stand-up guy. I heard a rumor that he took karate. He’s outgoing, he has a lot of friends. He gets along with everybody. He’d be the last person I would think would be connected to this.”

Vitale added to the paper that he believes his neighbor was in the “wrong place" at the "wrong time.”

The attorney representing the two men told the Daily News they were “clearly acting in self defense.”

“Our clients, two hard working young men, were the victims of a terrifying armed robbery by a career criminal,” Louis Gelormino noted to the paper. “We are grateful that the District Attorney’s Office and the NYPD conducted a complete and thorough investigation of this matter. Our prayers go out to the family of the deceased.”

The men who fought Compton are both 29 years old, according to WABC. But the Daily News reported that they are both 33.

Family left with questions after attempted robber found dead in NYCyoutu.be