Supreme Court Greenlights Trump’s Immigration Crackdown, Threatening Half a Million Migrants

In a victory for former President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for the administration to rescind protections for nearly half a million migrants from four Caribbean and Latin American nations. This decision jeopardizes the legal status of 532,000 individuals who had entered the United States under a two-year humanitarian “parole” program initiated by President Joe Biden, which allowed them temporary residence.

The ruling marks the second time the court has sided with Trump in his broader effort to deport millions of non-citizens, a campaign that has sparked a flurry of legal challenges. The latest decision revolves around the Trump administration’s move to cancel an 18-month extension of the protected status for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela countries plagued by human rights abuses and authoritarian regimes.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem argued that the program’s protection was no longer justified, citing the “authoritarian” nature of Nicolás Maduro’s government in Venezuela. The department ordered the migrants to leave within 30 days unless they qualified for other legal protections, effectively putting them at risk of deportation.

The Supreme Court’s ruling, however, drew sharp criticism from two liberal justices. In a dissent, Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor accused the majority of “plainly botching” their assessment and minimizing the “devastating consequences” for those potentially affected. They argued that the migrants could be torn from their families and returned to dangerous conditions or face imminent removal if they chose to stay.

“Granting the stay would facilitate needless human suffering before the courts have reached a final judgment on the legal issues,” Jackson wrote. She emphasized the practical harm that could come to vulnerable individuals caught in the legal limbo.

The other justices did not provide reasons for their decision, and the court’s vote was not made public. As the legal battle continues, the affected migrants face an uncertain future, caught between the threat of deportation and the wish to remain in safety.