A federal judge on Monday halted the Trump administration’s efforts to remove temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants a week before the protections were set to expire.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco determined that ending TPS for 350,000 Venezuelans would “inflict irreparable harm” on the plaintiffs by upending their lives and argued that it would harm the U.S. economy and public safety.
He also accused the Trump administration of taking “unprecedented action” to remove an existing TPS on the basis of negative stereotypes suggesting they were prisoners in Venezuela and brought economic harm to their communities.
“At the same time, the government has failed to identify any real countervailing harm in continuing TPS for Venezuelan beneficiaries,” Chen wrote.
“Plaintiffs have also shown they will likely succeed in demonstrating that the actions taken by the Secretary are unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus. For these reasons, the Court grants Plaintiffs’ request to postpone the challenged actions pending final adjudication of the merits of this case.”
An Obama appointee, Chen said his order applies nationwide, and he gave the government a week to file an appeal. The lawsuit was brought by a group of Venezuelan TPS holders and the National TPS Alliance, a left-wing activist group formed by TPS beneficiaries.
On Day One of his term, President Donald Trump ordered his administration to review TPS designations to ensure they are limited and not being abused. The request was part of a sweeping slate of executive actions that Trump issued at the beginning of his term to crack down on illegal immigration and initiate mass deportations of illegal aliens.
In response to Trump’s directive, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked the Biden administration’s 2023 decision to extend TPS to Venezuela and its last-ditch attempt at extending the TPS protections. The Trump administration’s hard-line approach to immigration is a complete reversal from the record-setting levels of illegal immigration allowed during former President Joe Biden’s term. So far, the Trump administration has attempted to carry out the largest deportation campaign in American history, with an early emphasis on violent criminals and gang-affiliated foreign nationals.
President Biden first granted TPS to Venezuela in 2021, and that program had been extended until September 2025. Overall, an estimated 600,000 Venezuelans are covered by TPS as their home country grapples with economic devastation and political repression under socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Chan’s decision cited Venezuela’s instability as determined by the State Department, which lists the oil-rich country as a level four, do-not-travel nation. The State Department warns Americans to avoid going to Venezuela because of the high possibility of wrongful detention, terrorism, and violent crime, combined with the poor infrastructure and political unrest.
Noem has similarly moved to end TPS designation for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, a decision the TPS advocates have asked Chan to prevent from happening. Conservatives have long argued that TPS is rife with abuse and not meant to be extended in perpetuity.
Congress created TPS in 1990 for immigrants fleeing countries facing war, natural disaster, and other crises that make it dangerous for people being deporting back to those countries. TPS does not grant individuals a path to citizenship, but it does allow them to find work and avoid deportation.