U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb ruled Friday that President Donald Trump's administration cannot use "summary deportation" for anyone who had previously been paroled into the United States.
Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheneyposted the ruling on Bluesky in which the judge shames the administration for using tactics many of those immigrants saw in the countries from which they fled.
"More broadly, this case presents a question of fair play," she wrote.
Parole means the immigrants have been granted permission to enter and stay in the country temporarily, despite not meeting the standard requirements for admission
Plaintiffs ... and hundreds of thousands of others like them, fled oppressive regimes and perilous conditions in their home countries. They arrived for inspection at the United States border pursuant to procedures created and advocated by the U.S. Government. They were paroled into this country under those procedures and given the chance to prove their claims for asylum or other relief authorized by our laws. In a world of bad options, they played by the rules."
"Now, the Government has not only closed off those pathways for new arrivals but changed the game for parolees already here, restricting their ability to seek immigration relief and subjecting them to summary removal despite statutory law prohibiting the Executive Branch from doing so," Cobb continued.
"This case’s underlying question, then, asks whether parolees who escaped oppression will have the chance to plead their case within a system of rules. Or, alternatively, will they be summarily removed from a country that—as they are swept up at checkpoints and outside courtrooms, often by plainclothes officers without explanation or charges ... may look to them more and more like the countries from which they tried to escape?"
Cheney noted that this ruling shields "hundreds of thousands of people that ICE had targeted for quick removal and courthouse arrests."