A group of American citizens and immigrants has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for terminating a long-standing legal mechanism that has allowed people from war-torn or politically unstable countries to temporarily live in the U.S.
The lawsuit, filed late Friday, seeks to reinstate humanitarian parole programs that previously allowed 875,000 migrants from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter the U.S. with legal residents as sponsors.
President Donald Trump has been dismantling legal pathways for immigration while implementing policies aimed at deporting millions of undocumented individuals. The plaintiffs include eight immigrants who arrived legally before the administration ended what it described as an “abuse” of humanitarian parole. While they can remain in the U.S. until their parole expires, their applications for asylum, visas, and other legal protections have been halted. Their identities remain confidential due to fears of deportation.
Among them are a Ukrainian couple, Maksym and Maria Doe; Alejandro Doe, who fled Nicaragua after his father was abducted and tortured; and Omar Doe, an Afghan national who worked with the U.S. military for over 18 years. Their sponsor, Dr. Kyle Varner, a physician and real estate investor from Spokane, Washington, has supported 79 Venezuelan immigrants by providing housing, covering travel expenses, and assisting them with language skills, employment, and driver’s licenses. He had 32 pending sponsorship applications when the Trump administration ended the program in January.
Other plaintiffs include Sandra McAnany and Wilhen Pierre Victor, two U.S. citizens who have also sponsored immigrants, as well as the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a California-based nonprofit that provides legal assistance to migrants. Esther Sung, an attorney with the Justice Action Center, which filed the lawsuit alongside Human Rights First, stated that the case aims to protect humanitarian parole, which has historically been a successful program.
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have yet to respond to the lawsuit. Parole authority, established in 1952, has been used by both Republican and Democratic administrations to admit people facing urgent humanitarian crises or situations where standard immigration channels are unavailable. Trump ordered an end to broad parole programs on his first day back in office.
The lawsuit does not challenge all parole programs but focuses on specific ones affected by the administration’s decision. McAnany, a Wisconsin widow who has sponsored 17 migrants from Venezuela and Nicaragua, still has four pending applications. She has helped those she sponsored settle into new lives, securing jobs and education. “I care deeply about each person I sponsor,” she said. “I can’t just walk away and give up.”
