A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from sharply curtailing a special immigration status that protects 600,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S. from deportation and allows them to work legally in this country.
Legal Battle Over Temporary Protected Status
The administration is trying to strip the legal protections, known as “temporary protected status,” from 350,000 Venezuelan nationals on April 7 — a change that could allow the government to deport many of them to a country that is in the throes of a humanitarian crisis.
The administration also wants to accelerate the expiration of the so-called TPS protections for an additional group of 250,000 Venezuelans.
But U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled Monday that Biden-era extensions of those protections must remain in place for now.
Racial Discrimination Allegations
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to curtail the protections was an unprecedented, legally flawed move that appeared to be rooted in racial discrimination by both Noem and President Donald Trump, Chen wrote in a 78-page decision.
“The Secretary made sweeping negative generalizations about Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries,” wrote Chen, a San Francisco-based appointee of President Barack Obama.
“Acting on the basis of a negative group stereotype and generalizing such stereotype to the entire group is the classic example of racism,” he continued.
Temporary Protected Status Overview
Temporary protected status is a designation under federal immigration laws that makes a wide variety of immigrants eligible to remain in the U.S. legally when their home country is undergoing a humanitarian crisis, war or natural disaster.
The designations have sometimes been extended for decades, prompting criticism from immigration opponents that they’ve been stretched beyond their intended purpose of temporary relief.
Legal Challenges and Government Responses
Both groups of Venezuelan nationals covered by the judge’s order Monday have TPS protections through October 2026 as a result of extensions ordered during the Biden administration by Noem’s predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas.
To justify the extensions, Mayorkas pointed to the “complex, serious and multidimensional humanitarian crisis” and the crackdown on political dissent in Venezuela.
But less than two weeks after Trump took office, Noem sought to nullify Mayorkas’ decision, instead setting a much more expedited process to remove Venezuelans on TPS from the country.
For one group of Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries, Noem’s nullification meant they would have lost protections next week. For the other group, the nullification meant their protections were set to expire this September, though Noem had indicated she would consider further extensions for that group later.
Evidence and Criticism
Chen suggested that data show Venezuelans on temporary protected status are largely law-abiding, taxpaying, educated and employed, undercutting the Trump administration’s rationale for ending the protections.
In particular, the judge objected to the administration’s claim that the threats from the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua justified the removal of TPS protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals.
“The Secretary’s rationale is entirely lacking in evidentiary support,” Chen wrote. “There is no evidence that Venezuelan TPS holders are members of the TdA gang, have connections to the gang, and/or commit crimes. Venezuelan TPS holders have lower rates of criminality than the general population. Generalization of criminality to the Venezuelan TPS population as a whole is baseless and smacks of racism predicated on generalized false stereotypes.”
Chen also questioned the administration’s suggestion that the decision was rooted in national security, noting that the arrangement required the Trump administration to negotiate directly with Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolas Maduro, potentially normalizing his regime.
“It is hard to discern precisely what the U.S. interest is in this instance,” Chen wrote.
