The U.S. Supreme Court has recently supported the Trump administration’s decision to end temporary legal protections for over 300,000 Venezuelan citizens living in the United States. This decision comes as part of the administration’s efforts to limit the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, which allows undocumented immigrants fleeing humanitarian crises to stay in the country and work legally.
On Friday, the Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal from the Trump administration. This program has been used by both the Trump and Biden administrations, with the Biden administration extending protections to approximately 600,000 Venezuelan migrants. However, after Trump returned to office, he quickly moved to revoke these protections.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ended a designation from 2023 that had made roughly 350,000 Venezuelans eligible for TPS. She also sought to cancel two extensions that would have allowed those protected to remain until October 2026.
While the Supreme Court had temporarily allowed this action, a lower court had blocked it. A federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Noem’s actions were based on unfair assumptions linking Venezuelan TPS holders with violence.
However, the Supreme Court recently lifted that ruling, stating that the legal arguments and circumstances had not significantly changed since their initial decision in May. The court’s majority maintained that their earlier ruling still applied.
Notably, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor disagreed with this outcome. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed concerns, viewing the decision as a misuse of the court’s emergency powers, arguing it disregards the stability needed by affected families.
On the other hand, the Department of Homeland Security celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision as a victory for the American public and common sense. They emphasized that TPS was meant to be temporary and criticized previous administrations for turning it into a de facto amnesty program.
Amid this, lawyers representing Venezuelan immigrants, led by Ahilan T. Arulanantham from the U.C.L.A. School of Law, claim the DHS did not adequately assess the situation in Venezuela before deciding to end TPS.
As the legal battles continue, the Trump administration’s ruling remains in effect, and the issue is expected to face further scrutiny in lower courts.
