An appeals court affirmed on Friday that President Donald Trump can revoke the protected status his predecessor bestowed on 430,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV).

Trump originally moved to revoke protected status for CHNV migrants in March by publishing his intent in the Federal Register, but a Biden-appointed D.C. judge blocked the move in August.

Judge Jia Cobb ruled that ending CHNV protected status violated due process rights and caused irreparable harm for the migrants, so it was illegal.

The 1st Circuit Appeals Court ruling by a three-judge panel found that the risk of irreparable harm was not enough to stop Trump from ending the migrants' protected status.

No strong showing

“We recognize the risks of irreparable harm persuasively laid out in the district court’s order: that parolees who lawfully arrived in this country were suddenly forced to choose between leaving in less than a month — a choice that potentially includes being separated from their families, communities, and lawful employment and returning to dangers in their home countries,” the judges said, according to the Associated Press. “But absent a strong showing of likelihood of success on the merits, the risk of such irreparable harms cannot, by itself, support a stay.”

“In sum, we hold that the Plaintiffs have not made a strong showing that they are likely to succeed in showing that the Secretary’s decision to terminate the CHNV parole programs exceeded her discretion as authorized by the INA,” the judges added.

In addition to this ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in May that Trump could legally end the CHNV program and allowed it to start shutting it down while the appeal was pending.

Trump's border policies have resulted in a dramatic drop in border crossings since the Biden years. In August 2023, there were over 232,000 border encounters. After Biden was basically forced to change some of his policies, the number was down to 58,000.

But Trump's numbers for August 2025 were even lower, at just under 25,000. This is the lowest number ever recorded by Customs and Border Protection.

Effective policies

The bottom line is, even with all the court challenges by sanctuary cities and states, Trump's policies are magnitudes more effective than former President Joe Biden's.

So much of border policy is the perception it gives to those who want to illegally cross the border.

Knowing that Trump has put more patrols on the border and is turning people away instead of bringing them in and showering them with goodies, most people aren't even going to try to cross.

It's much easier to police the border when only around 10% of the historical Biden numbers are even showing up.

That's what deterrence does; something that Biden knew nothing about, or else he didn't care.