5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable
Prohibit categorical use of immigration parole
Printed page 151 5. Department of Homeland Security
“Prohibit the use of parole except in matters that are certified by the Secretary of Homeland Security as requiring action for humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons, and prohibit the use of parole in any categorical circumstance.”
What has happened
- Partially done
DHS terminated the family reunification parole processes for seven countries, the last of the large categorical programs. What has not happened is the other half of the Quote: no instrument requires the Secretary personally to certify each parole, and no rule prohibits a future categorical parole. The 2026-06-05 proposed rule limits parolees' access to employment authorization rather than parole itself.
- Partially done
DHS terminated the CHNV parole processes by Federal Register notice, the largest categorical parole program, and had announced on 2025-01-21 that it was "ending the broad abuse of humanitarian parole" and returning the program to case-by-case decisions. The termination was stayed by the District of Massachusetts on 2025-04-15 in Doe v. Noem, No. 1:25-cv-10495; the Supreme Court stayed that order on 2025-05-30 (Noem v. Doe, No. 24A1079), letting the termination take effect pending appeal, and DHS issued individual termination notices from 2025-06-12.
- Attempted
Two orders on the same day. EO 14165 section 7(b) orders the Secretary to "terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders, including the program known as the Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans". EO 14159 section 16(a) orders that the parole authority under INA section 212(d)(5) "is exercised on only a case-by-case basis in accordance with the plain language of the statute, and in all circumstances only when an individual alien demonstrates urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit" - the Quote's own test, in the Quote's own words.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Two limbs: parole only on the Secretary’s certification of humanitarian or significant public benefit grounds, and no categorical parole in any circumstance.
The categorical programs the Mandate objected to are gone, by notice rather than by rule. Neither limb is locked in: the case-by-case test lives in an executive order a successor can revoke, and the Secretary certifies nothing individually. Partial.
Litigation, verified on supremecourt.gov docket 24A1079 (read 2026-08-28): the application for a stay was granted 2025-05-30, staying the District of Massachusetts order of 2025-04-15 pending the First Circuit appeal and any certiorari petition. Because the stay put the termination back in force and the other terminations were never enjoined, this is recorded as a note on the 2025-03-25 partial event rather than as a blocked step - the same reading settled on review for #335.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- categorical immigration parole
- ID
- 373