- A federal judge has postponed the Trump administration’s effort to end Temporary Protected Status for around 600,000 Venezuelans. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had announced the termination of TPS for Venezuelans, saying the country no longer met the program’s conditions.
- The National TPS Alliance challenged the decision, arguing it was unlawful.
- U.S. District Court Judge Ed Chen ruled that ending TPS would cause irreparable harm and jeopardize public safety. The government has one week to appeal the decision.
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A federal judge ruled to postpone the Trump administration’s effort to strip around 600,000 Venezuelans of Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
Days after being sworn in, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was terminating TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who were granted the status under the Biden administration.
TPS is a U.S. immigration program that grants immigrants the right to live and work in the United States if their designated home country is experiencing conflicts such as natural disasters or warfare. TPS protects immigrants with the status from deportation.
Noem announced in February that Venezuela no longer meets the TPS-designated conditions. A notice by the Citizenship and Immigration Services states: “In particular, the Secretary has determined it is contrary to the national interest to permit the covered Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States.”
The National TPS Alliance, an organization that represents TPS holders across the country, challenged Noem’s termination of the TPS program for Venezuelans, which is set to expire April 7. The National TPS Alliance argued that Noem’s termination of TPS was unlawful and motivated in part by racial animus.
In his 78-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Ed Chen said stripping Venezuelans with TPS would “subject them to possible imminent deportation back to Venezuela, a country so rife with economic and political upheaval and danger that the State Department has categorized Venezuela as a ‘Level 4: Do Not Travel’ country.”
He added, “The Court finds that the Secretary’s action threatens to: inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States.”
Advocates with the National TPS Alliance responded to the judge’s ruling.
“Judge Chen’s decision today recognizes the critical role of TPS, protecting people who cannot safely return to their home countries. This humanitarian protection cannot be stripped away from hundreds of thousands of people for illegitimate pretextual reasons,” Emi MacLean, an attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, said in a statement.
The government has a week to appeal the ruling.
Similar lawsuits regarding Haiti’s TPS designation are also making their way through the court system. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 17 countries are currently designated for TPS.
