Latest news with #Cogan
USA Today
02-07-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Federal judge blocks Trump from ending temporary Haitian immigration program
The Haitian program is one of several the Department of Homeland Security seeks to end as the Trump administration takes a harder line on immigration. A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending a temporary program that provides work permits and protection from deportation for more than 500,000 Haitian immigrants months earlier than it was set to expire. The Department of Homeland Security announced in February it was rescinding the program called 'temporary protected status' for Haitians. Trump's predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden, had set to run through Feb. 3, 2026. But U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn ruled July 1 that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem did not follow instructions and a timeline mandated by Congress to reconsider the program. "Plaintiffs are likely to (and, indeed, do) succeed on the merits," Cogan wrote. "Plaintiffs have also shown that they will suffer irreparable injury without postponement." Federal courts blocked Trump from ending most enrollment in temporary work programs for immigrants during his first term. But the Supreme Court in May let the administration end the temporary program for the Venezuelans, signaling that other terminations could be allowed. The Trump administration also halted another program protecting immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela in June. And Trump imposed a travel ban against people arriving from a dozen countries including Haiti in June. The State Department has a Level 4 'Do Not Travel' warning for Haiti, citing widespread kidnappings, violent crime, and near-total collapse of emergency services. The advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance condemned the administration's move to end the temporary work program after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake a month later. The group said the country where more than 1 million people are displaced faces rampant gang violence, and a lack of food and fuel. 'This is not just cruel − it's state-sanctioned endangerment,' Guerline Jozef, executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, said in a statement about ending the program. 'Sending back hundreds of thousands of people to a country overrun by gangs, where hospitals are shuttered and food is scarce, is a direct assault on Black immigrant communities." Noem decided to end the temporay program Aug. 3 and then pushed the date back to Sept. 2. Cogan found that the government didn't argue Noem had the statutory authority to end the temporary program. Instead, the government argued Noem was exercising her authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Cogan, who was appointed by George W. Bush, ruled Noem's action was "unlawful" for lack of statutory authority. Cogan also said Haitians' interests in being able to live and work in the United States "far outweigh" potential harm to the U.S. government, which remains free to enforce immigration laws and terminate the program. The case was filed on March 14 by nine Haitians who said Noem did not do a required review of current conditions in Haiti before ending the temporary program early.
TimesLIVE
02-07-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
US judge blocks Trump from ending temporary protected status for Haitians
A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the bid by US President Donald Trump's administration to end temporary deportation protections and work permits for about 521,000 Haitian immigrants before the programme's scheduled expiration date. In February the department of homeland security rescinded Democratic former president Joe Biden's extension of temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians to February 3 2026. It called for the programme to end on August 3 and last week pushed back the date to September 2. US district judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, however, said homeland security secretary Kristi Noem did not follow instructions and a timeline mandated by Congress to reconsider the TPS designation for Haitians. "Secretary Noem does not have statutory or inherent authority to partially vacate a country's TPS designation", making her actions "unlawful", Cogan wrote. "Plaintiffs are likely to (and do) succeed on the merits." Cogan said Haitians' interests in being able to live and work in the US "far outweigh" potential harm to the government, which remains free to enforce immigration laws and terminate TPS status as prescribed by Congress. Trump has made a crackdown on legal and illegal immigration a central plank of his second White House term.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge blocks Trump's early termination of temporary protections for Haitian immigrants
A federal judge in New York has blocked the Trump administration's attempt to strip immigration protections from Haitians fleeing instability in their country. The ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan preserves, for now, the Biden administration's 2024 extension of the protections, known as 'temporary protected status,' for up to 500,000 Haitians living in the United States. Cogan's 23-page decision is the latest legal development in the administration's efforts to roll back TPS designations and other immigration programs that allow immigrants from countries facing humanitarian crises to live and work here legally. In a separate case, the Supreme Court in May lifted a lower-court ruling and allowed the administration to revoke a Biden-era TPS designation for about 350,000 Venezuelans. Cogan's decision came just four days after Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that the TPS designation for Haitians would expire effective on Sept. 2. Under the Biden administration's extension, the designation was scheduled to expire on Feb. 3, 2026. Cogan, an appointee of President George W. Bush, held that Noem's termination was unlawful because the government ignored provisions in the TPS statute that seek to provide early notice to recipients, including barring termination until a previous extension expires. The judge noted that Haitian TPS recipients have enrolled in schools, taken jobs and began medical treatment in reliance on the U.S. government's previous representations about the duration of the protections. 'When the Government confers a benefit over a fixed period of time, a beneficiary can reasonably expect to receive that benefit at least until the end of that fixed period,' Cogan wrote. 'Secretary Noem cannot reconsider Haiti's TPS designation in a way that takes effect before February 3, 2026,' the judge added. TPS designations are based on conditions in a particular country, including whether there is armed conflict, civil strife or widespread human rights violations. Noem said the 'environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.' The State Department, meanwhile, advises Americans to 'not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care.' The Trump administration has sought to revoke immigration parole programs and protected status for more than a million people from countries including Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cameroon and Afghanistan.
Miami Herald
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Federal judge rules in favor of Haitians with TPS, restores February 2026 deadline
A New York federal judge has ruled in favor of Haitians with temporary legal status in the United States, deciding on Tuesday that the Trump administration was wrong in deciding to cut short their end date by six months. U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan's ruling means that Haiti's Temporary Protected Status designation should return to its original February 2026 date, giving more than a half-million Haitian nationals with TPS more time to shield themselves against losing their work permits and deportation protections in the United States. Cogan found that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem exceeded her authority when she shaved off six months from the 18-month TPS extension that the prior Biden administration had granted to Haitian nationals. 'Secretary Noem's [decision] was in excess of her authority and was thus unlawful,' Cogan wrote, noting that he was granting partial summary judgment to the Haitian immigrants who challenged her because they 'are likely to prevail on the merits' in their lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. 'Plaintiffs have also shown they will suffer irreparable injury without postponement' of the Trump administration's TPS end date for Haitian immigrants, Cogan added. In his ruling, Cogan also partly denied the administration's motion to dismiss the Haitian immigrants' lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of New York. Earlier this year, Noem shortened by six months Haiti's 18-month extension for Haitian TPS holders in the United States. Her order meant that instead of enjoying the legal protections against deportation until February 2026, Haitians nationals in the U.S. were only protected until Aug. 3. That was later moved to Sept. 2 in the Federal Register when the administration failed to publicize its decision within 60 days of the original termination date. The administration is likely to appeal Cogan's decision. TPS is a humanitarian benefit given to countries in turmoil and allows their nationals in the U.S. to live and work legally here on a temporary basis. Noem's initial decision to overturn an order by the Biden administration to extend the benefit for Haitians before leaving office prompted nine Haitian nationals with TPS and two associations to file suit in the federal court in Brooklyn, asserting their due process rights and racial discrimination on the part of the Trump administration. The administration had asked for the suit to be dismissed and argued that it had the sole authority to end TPS for Haitian nationals in the U.S. Cogan, meanwhile, had been waiting on the administration to decide on Haiti's TPS designation before ruling on the lawsuit. 'We are appreciative of the judge's recognition that Secretary Kristi Noem and the Trump administration engaged in illegal conduct when they vacated part of the 18 months that had been given to Haitians under the Biden administration,' said Ira Kurzban, a Miami immigration attorney who is among the lawyers that brought the lawsuit. 'This means that Haitians' TPS is restored to the original 18 months until February 2026.'
Politico
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Judge blocks Trump's early termination of temporary protections for Haitian immigrants
Cogan's decision came just four days after Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that the TPS designation for Haitians would expire effective on Sept. 2. Under the Biden administration's extension, the designation was scheduled to expire on Feb. 3, 2026. Cogan, an appointee of President George W. Bush, held that Noem's termination was unlawful because the government ignored provisions in the TPS statute that seek to provide early notice to recipients, including barring termination until a previous extension expires. The judge noted that Haitian TPS recipients have enrolled in schools, taken jobs and began medical treatment in reliance on the U.S. government's previous representations about the duration of the protections. 'When the Government confers a benefit over a fixed period of time, a beneficiary can reasonably expect to receive that benefit at least until the end of that fixed period,' Cogan wrote. 'Secretary Noem cannot reconsider Haiti's TPS designation in a way that takes effect before February 3, 2026,' the judge added. TPS designations are based on conditions in a particular country, including whether there is armed conflict, civil strife or widespread human rights violations. Noem said the 'environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.' The State Department, meanwhile, advises Americans to 'not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care.' The Trump administration has sought to revoke immigration parole programs and protected status for more than a million people from countries including Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cameroon and Afghanistan.
