Supreme Court Allows End of TPS for Venezuelan Migrants

Washington, D.C. — The Supreme Court ruled on Monday to let the Trump administration terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for approximately 350,000 Venezuelan migrants. This decision came as legal proceedings regarding the termination are still ongoing.

The high court granted the administration’s request to lift a lower court’s injunction that had blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem‘s decision to revoke TPS for Venezuelans. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissent, stating she would deny the administration’s request for emergency relief.

The TPS program, created by Congress in 1990, provides temporary protections for migrants from countries suffering from dangerous conditions such as war or natural disasters. Under the Biden administration, TPS was extended to Venezuelans due to ongoing crises in their home country.

In February, Noem announced the Trump administration’s plans to end TPS for Venezuelans, which would take effect on April 7. However, a federal judge in California ruled in late March that her decision to terminate TPS for Venezuelans seemed to be influenced by negative stereotypes, potentially violating constitutional rights.

The Trump administration sought the Supreme Court’s intervention after a federal appeals court denied its request for emergency relief. Solicitor General John Sauer argued that the lower court’s ruling forced the administration to allow hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to remain in the U.S., opposing what he deemed contrary to the national interest.

Since the Biden administration’s designation of TPS for Venezuelans, advocates argue that lifting the injunction would severely impact those individuals, leaving them vulnerable to deportation. Legal representatives for the TPS beneficiaries warned that reversing the lower court’s order would cause significant harm, effectively stripping their legal status.

Currently, TPS covers about 600,000 individuals from Venezuela through various designations, with the 2023 designation specifically contested in the Supreme Court case. The outcome of this legal battle may significantly influence immigration policy in the U.S., especially concerning other TPS programs and the broader scope of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.