A federal judge said Thursday she intends to issue a stay on the Department of Homeland Security’s order to end the humanitarian parole program, according to reporting from Reuters and other news sources.
Two Nicaraguan students at Champlain Valley Union High School, who have been living in Vermont under that program, were planning to leave the country by the end of the month to comply with the federal government’s order.
The specifics of the situation are still unclear, and a Champlain Valley School District spokesperson declined to comment on how the two students and their family are reacting to the potential change.
Their pending departure sparked an outpouring of support and anger from the surrounding Champlain Valley community. For now, the early graduation ceremony the school had planned — so that the students would be able to have their diplomas before leaving — remains on the schedule.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani expressed her intention to halt the department’s revocation of the parole program during a hearing in Boston’s federal court on Thursday, according to Reuters. As of Friday afternoon, the judge had yet to issue a formal order.
The CHNV parole program, as it is known, offers two years of legal residence and work eligibility to Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. People in the program are typically able to seek asylum or other pathways to more permanent residence in the country. More than 500,000 people who are in the U.S. under the program would have to leave by April 24 under the Department of Homeland Security’s order. For most, that date falls before the span of their two-year stay will have expired.
According to Reuters, Talwani said she would quickly work to issue an order halting the premature end of the parole period for individuals already here, though she said she would not require the program to accept new applicants.
Talwani said the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to prematurely end the parole period for people already in the U.S. was an incorrect reading of the law, as Reuters reported.
