The Justice Department this week asked the Supreme Court to allow the administration to end a program known as CHNV (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela), a parole program that the administration would like to terminate before being blocked by a Boston judge.
President Trump directed DHS to terminate the CHNV parole program in an executive order signed in January 2025.
In late March 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would end the CHNV parole program in one month, effective April 24.
On April 10, Boston-based District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked the DHS attempt to end the program, arguing the justification for the termination was based on an incorrect reading of the law and ultimately siding with a plaintiff’s group known as Justice Action Center.
Subsequently, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put Judge Talwani’s order on hold, arguing that DHS has not shown that the termination of the program is likely to be sustained on appeal.
The Supreme Court will now decide whether it will hear the case. Termination of the program (and subsequent termination of work authorizations for individuals) is stayed unless the court orders the stay overturned or declines to hear the case.
What is the CHNV Parole Program?
The Immigration and Nationality Act grants the Secretary of Homeland Security narrow authority to confer “parole status” for individuals into the U.S. “temporarily under such conditions as DHS may prescribe only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”
The CHNV parole program (for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela) was created in 2022 to allow individuals from the four designated countries, and their immediate family members, to request authorization to travel to the United States in order to be considered for parole status. They could then remain in the country for two years under parole status.
This is a different program from DHS’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
DHS’s Federal Register posting noted that approximately 532,000 individuals were granted authorization to enter the U.S. under the CHNV program.
