Judge rules Trump unlawfully terminated legal status of migrants who used US entry app

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) overstepped its authority when it terminated the legal status of thousands of migrants who entered the US using a Biden-era programme, a federal judge has ruled.

Roughly 900,000 migrants who entered at the southern border using the app, CBP One, were generally allowed to remain in the US for two years and given "parole" from immigration laws to work in the country legally.

President Donald Trump's administration last year ended the parole programme and began to use the app for "self-deportations".

Tuesday's ruling restores status to individuals nationwide who received an email, or similar notification, from DHS cancelling their parole.

The Trump administration may seek to appeal the ruling, as they have frequently done in cases challenging their immigration policies. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

From 2023, under former President Joe Biden, the DHS began requiring many asylum seekers to use the app in an effort to better manage the southern border.

Last April, individuals who had entered the US at the southern border through the CBP One app received emails informing them: "It is time for you to leave the United States".

The email also stated that if they did not leave, they could be deported unless they "have otherwise obtained a lawful basis to remain here".

Their work authorisations were also revoked.

The Biden administration "abused the parole authority to allow millions of illegal aliens into the US which further fuelled the worst border crisis in US history", DHS told the BBC at the time.

On Tuesday, Judge Allison Skye Borroughs of the US District of Massachusetts of the wrote in her decision that "the parole terminations exceeded the agency's statutory authority and contradicted the procedures set forth in its own regulations".

Trump has reversed many of his predecessor's immigration policies and overseen sweeping crackdowns on undocumented immigrants in the US. DHS has urged undocumented people to "self deport", or risk detention and deportation.

Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward, one of the organisations representing the plaintiffs, said that the "ruling is a clear rejection of an administration that has tried to erase lawful status for hundreds of thousands of people with the click of a button".

The Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, and three women impacted by the reversal, sued the Trump administration over the policy change.

They alleged the termination was unlawful and violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

The loss of the CBP One programme meant that "they went from living in the United States legally to being deemed 'illegal aliens' overnight," their lawsuit stated.

"For many Venezuelan families, this decision brings long-awaited relief after months of fear and uncertainty," Carlina Velásquez, President of the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. "

The ruling is unlikely to guarantee permanent residency for many of the people who entered the country through the programme.

That policy only granted people two years of parole while they applied for asylum, meaning that some of the individuals may have already passed that deadline while others will see their status expire in the coming months.