The back-and-forth between the Trump administration and activist judges continues for Joe Biden-era migrant protections.
In a ruling issued earlier this month, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled the Trump administration broke the law when it sought to revoke a last-minute Temporary Protected Status renewal for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Venezuelan migrants, The Washington Times reported.
Temporary Protected Status and other parole programs are supposed to be granted to citizens of countries facing war, natural disaster, or political upheaval.
The status grants migrants work authorization and temporary protection from deportation, but it’s not meant to allow TPS holders to stay in the country indefinitely.
Judge Edward Chen, an Obama appointee to the California court, issued a summary judgment siding with the migrants. Chen rejected the government’s defense and blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate the 2023 Venezuela Temporary Protected Status designation.
“There is no evidence of any reasoned decision making” behind Secretary Noem’s finding that the program should be canceled, Chen wrote per a Reuters report.
In terms of the law itself, Chen ruled the TPS statute does not allow for a termination midway through an 18-month renewal, which is what Noem tried to do.
Under Biden, TPS was extended to cover about 600,000 Venezuelans and 521,000 Haitians. Noem reversed the extensions in February, saying they were no longer justified.
In March, Chen temporarily blocked Noem from revoking TPS status granted to about 600,000 Venezuelans under Biden. Haitian TPS recipients later joined the case.
Chen’s March ruling was upheld by an appeals court last week, but has been paused by the U.S. Supreme Court, Reuters reported.
In a sneaky move just before leaving office, former Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a new renewal of TPS for the Venezuelans, even though the current grant still had months to go.
As the new DHS Secretary, Noem determined that Venezuela no longer meets the conditions for its TPS designation as “it is contrary to the national interest.” But the judge overruled her decision and said the 2023 TPS designation of Venezuela can continue.
“The judge did so even though the Department of Homeland Security previously prevailed in the same case in the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 8-1 decision,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ TPS webpage. “The Department of Homeland Security vehemently disagrees with the Northern District of California’s ruling and is pursuing immediate relief.”
According to court documents and NPR reports, the administration has terminated Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, and Humanitarian Parole designations for about 1.5 million people, prompting lawsuits across the country from immigrant advocates.
Judge Chen disregarded the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, opining the high court’s previous ruling didn’t block him from revisiting the issue, “adjudicating the case on the merits and entering a final judgment,” The Washington Times reported.
The judge accused Noem of racism toward Venezuelans, using the acts of members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that has infiltrated the U.S., to justify ending the program and unfairly deny all Venezuelans legal protections.
Chen called out President Donald Trump for his “derogatory and baseless claims” about Haitian migrants eating pets in Ohio, per The Washington Times.
Although Venezuela remains in upheaval, it also has a corrupt government and U.S. officials have recently targeted several cartel boats suspected of bringing drugs to the United States.
On Aug. 7, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for narco-terrorism, according to the U.S. Department of State.
“Weighing public safety, national security, migration factors, immigration policy, economic considerations, and foreign policy, it’s clear that allowing Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not in America’s best interest,” said Matthew Tragesser, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Separately, Secretary Noem published her notice to terminate the Venezuela 2021 TPS designation, which is effective on Nov. 7. DHS has to publish a Federal Register notice 60 days prior to the termination. Find more information about TPS, visit uscis.gov/tps.
TPS Venezuela beneficiaries under the 2023 Designation have their TPS extended through Oct. 2, 2026, subject to legal updates, according to an update from USCIS.
