The Supreme Court has granted the Trump administration the authority to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 350,000 Venezuelan migrants, overturning a lower court’s injunction. The decision allows the administration to proceed with its plan to end the protections, which had allowed these individuals to live and work in the United States due to the unstable conditions in Venezuela.
The legal battle stemmed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision in February to terminate the TPS designation for Venezuelans, which was initially granted and extended during the Biden administration. The Biden administration had cited the economic and political turmoil under President Nicolás Maduro’s regime as justification for the protections, which are designed to provide humanitarian relief to individuals from countries facing war, natural disasters, or other crises.
A federal judge in the Northern District of California, Edward Chen, blocked Noem’s decision in March, citing concerns that it was based on racial animus and negative stereotypes. Chen argued that ending the program could cause significant harm to hundreds of thousands of people, negatively impact the U.S. economy, and pose risks to public health and safety. He also noted the lack of evidence presented by the government to demonstrate any harm in maintaining the program.
The Trump administration, through Solicitor General D. John Sauer, argued that the courts do not have the authority to review decisions made by the Homeland Security secretary in matters of immigration and foreign affairs. They asserted that such decisions fall under the executive branch’s prerogatives and are inherently “flexible, fast-paced, and discretionary.”
Lawyers representing the Venezuelan migrants and the National TPS Alliance countered that the courts have a fundamental role in interpreting the law and that the administration’s attempt to evade judicial review was unwarranted. They argued that Venezuela remains unsafe for return, citing the State Department’s “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory due to high risks of wrongful detentions, terrorism, kidnapping, and civil unrest.
The Supreme Court’s decision to lift the lower court’s injunction means that the Trump administration can now move forward with ending the TPS program for Venezuelans. This will result in the loss of work permits and deportation protections for the affected individuals, as previously set to take effect in April and September of this year, absent the lower court’s injunction.
The 1990 Temporary Protected Status program allows the Homeland Security Secretary to designate countries for TPS due to extraordinary and temporary conditions. The program allows beneficiaries to apply for renewable work permits and deportation deferrals. The Trump administration is also in the process of revoking TPS protections for tens of thousands of Haitians, with those terminations set to take effect in August.
