Federal judge Indira Talwani on Monday (April 14) blocked US President Donald Trump's administration from quickly revoking the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti.
The ruling by the Indian-American US district judge in Boston is the latest order against Trump's rapid push to carry out mass deportations, particularly targeting Latin Americans.
In March, the administration said it was moving to revoke the legal status of some 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came to the United States under a "parole" program initially launched by former US president Joe Biden in October 2022.
"The court grants emergency relief staying the Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans," Talwani wrote in her order.
The parole program allowed entry to the United States for two years for up to 30,000 migrants per month from the four countries, which have grim human rights records.
In her order, Talwani said the Trump administration had acted on a flawed interpretation of immigration law, with expedited removal applicable to non-citizens entering the United States illegally, but not those authorized to be in the country, such as through the parole program.
Under Trump's revocation, the immigrants would have lost their legal protection effective April 24, just 30 days after the US Department of Homeland Security published its order in the Federal Register. The decision gives the court time to examine the administration’s legal justification.
Trump has vowed to deport "millions" of undocumented migrants in his second term, after running an election campaign that focused on illegal immigration.
Among other measures, he has invoked rare wartime legislation to fly hundreds of alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, which is imprisoning the migrants.
Talwani said the government failed to provide a “reasoned decision,” and questioned why people who had passed background checks, paid for travel, and received sponsor support were being treated as if they had entered illegally.
Who is judge Indira Talwani?
The ruling by the Indian-American US district judge in Boston is the latest order against Trump's rapid push to carry out mass deportations, particularly targeting Latin Americans.
In March, the administration said it was moving to revoke the legal status of some 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came to the United States under a "parole" program initially launched by former US president Joe Biden in October 2022.
"The court grants emergency relief staying the Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans," Talwani wrote in her order.
The parole program allowed entry to the United States for two years for up to 30,000 migrants per month from the four countries, which have grim human rights records.
In her order, Talwani said the Trump administration had acted on a flawed interpretation of immigration law, with expedited removal applicable to non-citizens entering the United States illegally, but not those authorized to be in the country, such as through the parole program.
Under Trump's revocation, the immigrants would have lost their legal protection effective April 24, just 30 days after the US Department of Homeland Security published its order in the Federal Register. The decision gives the court time to examine the administration’s legal justification.
Trump has vowed to deport "millions" of undocumented migrants in his second term, after running an election campaign that focused on illegal immigration.
Among other measures, he has invoked rare wartime legislation to fly hundreds of alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, which is imprisoning the migrants.
Talwani said the government failed to provide a “reasoned decision,” and questioned why people who had passed background checks, paid for travel, and received sponsor support were being treated as if they had entered illegally.
Who is judge Indira Talwani?
- Judge Indira Talwani is the daughter of immigrants from India and Germany. Her father Manik Talwani was a renowned geophysicist. Their family has roots in Talwan village near Jalandhar, Punjab.
- She graduated cum laude from Harvard university and later earned her Juris Doctor from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law.
- At law school, she was selected for the Order of the Coif and served as articles editor for the Industrial Relations Law Journal.
- She began her legal career as a law clerk to US district judge Stanley Weigel in California.
- She worked as an associate and then partner at a San Francisco law firm focused on labour and employment litigation.
- In 1999, she joined Segal Roitman LLP in Boston, where she continued representing workers in employment disputes and class actions.
- Judge Talwani has contributed as a senior editor for the American bar association’s treatise on the Family and Medical Leave Act.
- She has delivered lectures for legal associations and labour organisations on employment rights and workplace law.
- Her legal work has included union negotiations, arbitrations, and advocacy for fair workplace policies.
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