Obama Judge Halts Trump Effort to End Parole for Hundreds of Thousands

A federal judge with a record of ruling against President Donald Trump blocked his administration from terminating the parole of immigrants who entered the United States using the Biden administration’s app.

Tuesday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs of the District of Massachusetts could mean parole stays in place for hundreds of thousands of immigrants.

Under President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the federal government launched a Customs and Border Protection “CBP One” app in 2023. The app required noncitizens seeking asylum or other immigration relief to schedule appointments at ports of entry and obtain parole status, allowing them to remain in the U.S. ahead of their hearing.

In April 2025, the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security terminated the parole of CBP One users and threatened them with detention or deportation.

Burroughs ruled that the Trump administration’s blanket revocation of parole was unlawful and vacated the terminations, ordering the government to restore parole status to all members of the class action lawsuit.

The Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts led the class action lawsuit, representing immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti who entered the United States using the app.

Revoking parole “is not a matter of agency discretion,” wrote Burroughs, a President Barack Obama appointee.

“Thus, although the court may not review the antecedent decision, it may review the termination of parole to determine whether, as required by statute, it followed a decision by the Secretary that the purposes of parole had been served,” the judge wrote.

Democracy Forward, a liberal legal group, and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute represented the plaintiffs in the case.

“Today’s 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,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward. 

“Our clients followed the law: they waited, registered, were inspected, and were granted parole under the law.”

Burroughs has a record of left-leaning rulings in high-profile cases.

In 2019, she ruled that Harvard did not unlawfully discriminate against Asian American applicants in a race-based admissions case. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed her finding in 2023.

In 2017, Burroughs imposed an injunction against Trump’s first travel ban, which was later partially reversed by the Supreme Court.

In 2025, Burroughs struck down the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze on Harvard.

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