The Supreme Court on Monday granted a win to the Trump Administration, allowing the termination of Temporary Protected Status for more than 300,000 Venezuelan nationals living in the United States, which means they can now be deported. The court ended the lower court ruling that blocked the Trump Administration from deporting the Venezuelans, some of whom are criminal gang members.
In an unsigned order, the justices lifted an injunction issued by Senior US District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco, who had last week halted the Department of Homeland Security from ending the TPS designation for Venezuela. The high court’s decision allows DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to move forward with the termination of TPS benefits for Venezuelans, even while lawsuits over the decision continue.
The TPS program was created by Congress in 1990; it allows the executive branch to grant temporary refuge and work authorization to nationals of countries facing extraordinary conditions such as armed conflict or natural disasters.
Venezuela was granted TPS designation in 2021 under President Joe Biden and then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Then, millions of illegal foreign nationals were released into the country through other Biden programs, with more than one million granted TPS status, including people from countries that have strong ties to terrorism.
Earlier this year, Noem announced the end Venezuela’s TPS status, citing changed conditions in the country. The move triggered a legal challenge by affected individuals and advocacy groups, who sought an emergency order blocking the termination. Judge Chen granted that request, describing Noem’s actions as “unprecedented” and raising concerns that the decision may have been based in part on discriminatory stereotypes.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco declined to stay Chen’s injunction pending appeal, prompting the Trump administration to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
Judge Morgan Christen of Alaska, who was part of this Ninth Circuit panel, was part of the unanimous appeals court decision to deny Noem’s stay request, a decision that has now been overturned.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the high court’s decision.
While the Supreme Court’s order allows the termination of TPS for Venezuelans to proceed for now, it leaves open the door for individual challenges to outright removal or loss of work authorization.