Immigrants From Ukraine, 6 Other Countries Sue Over Federal Government’s Parole Limits

The government has stopped processing applications for parole.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington on Aug. 12, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The federal government’s actions to limit humanitarian parole for immigrants from Ukraine and other countries are illegal and should be halted, according to a new lawsuit.

The previous administration granted more than one million immigrants parole over four years. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in January authorized reevaluation of parole for immigrants, including removing parole protection for some. Officials later suspended requests for immigration benefits for immigrants paroled through congressionally established programs such as Uniting for Ukraine, which was created for Ukrainians displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Citizens of Ukraine and other countries say those actions violate federal law, and asked a federal court in Massachusetts on Feb. 28 to quickly order officials to process applications for parole.

The plaintiffs say that they waited to come to the United States until they had a legal pathway to enter the country but are now illegally being blocked from Uniting for Ukraine and similar programs.

The suspension “is contrary to the laws Congress enacted governing those immigration benefit applications,” the suit states.

“Humanitarian parole has been a lifeline in an otherwise nearly impossible system for people seeking to safely reunite with their loved ones or family members in the U.S.,” Anwen Hughes, a director of legal strategy at Human Rights First, which is helping represent the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We cannot let the Trump administration take away one of the last remaining viable pathways to safety in this country.”

The U.S. Department of Justice, which represents government agencies in court, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has limited parole, did not respond to early morning requests for comment.

Congress in a 1952 law empowered the Executive Branch to grant parole, or temporarily let noncitizens enter the United States “on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.” Immigrants who are paroled can work while they apply for more permanent legal protection.

Presidents of both parties since then have utilized the power, although former President Joe Biden used it more than any of his predecessors, paroling more than 1.5 million people under broad programs that critics said did not include a case-by-case evaluation.

President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term ordered authorities to end “all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders,” including the program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.

In addition to immigrants who came to the United States under parole, the plaintiffs include several U.S. citizens who have sponsored immigrants.

“There is no logical reason why the administration should want to end humanitarian parole when they have proven time and again to be so successful. My beneficiaries and I followed all of the rules laid out by the U.S. government, including a rigorous application and vetting process,” Kyle Varner, one of the sponsors, said in a statement. “Now, the government is turning its back on us and changing the rules.”