Indira Talwani intends to issue a temporary restraining order against the US administration
Massachusetts-based US district judge Indira Talwani is set to hinder the US administration’s efforts to lift temporary legal protections given to the relatives of citizens and green card holders, reported the Associated Press.
Talwani said at a hearing that she intended to issue a temporary restraining order against the government in relation to the Family Reunification Parole program, although she did not specify the timeframe. The FRP program was implemented during Joe Biden’s term and covers people from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras.
The Department of Homeland Security cut off the protections in late 2025, and most beneficiaries of the program will be left unshielded by January 14.
“The government, having invited people to apply, is now laying traps between those people and getting the green card. That is incredibly inequitable,” said Justin Cox, a Justice Action Center-affiliated attorney who argued for the case’s five plaintiffs, in a statement published by AP News.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs are pushing for judicial decisions on the case to encompass all program participants.
“Although in a temporary status, these parolees did not come temporarily; they came to get a jump-start on their new lives in the United States, typically bringing immediate family members with them. Since they arrived, FRP parolees have gotten employment authorization documents, jobs, and enrolled their kids in school,” the plaintiffs wrote in their motion, a snippet of which was published by AP News.
The government countered that Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem was authorized to end parole programs and that enough notice was given through the publication of the termination in the federal registry. The FRP program had to be cut on national security grounds because participants were not adequately evaluated, the government claimed.
Talwani acknowledged that the government was authorized to pull the program, but she disagreed with the execution. She requested evidence that the government had informed people of the program’s termination through written notices like letters or emails.
“I understand why plaintiffs feel like they came here and made all these plans and were going to be here for a very long time. I have a group of people who are trying to follow the law. I am saying to you that, we as Americans, the United States needs to,” Talwani said in a statement published by AP News.
In May 2025, the Supreme Court permitted the current US administration to remove temporary legal protections for immigrants. The decision was not explained, and two justices issued public dissensions.
