The Supreme Court on Monday granted the Trump administration authority to proceed with revoking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Venezuelans, clearing the way for potential mass deportations later this year. The unsigned emergency order, opposed only by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, allows Homeland Security officials to unwind protections initially extended under President Joe Biden.
"This is the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history," said Ahilan Arulanantham, a lawyer representing Venezuelan plaintiffs. He called the court's decision "truly shocking" and criticized the justices for acting without fuller consideration.
TPS, a humanitarian relief program established in 1990, grants legal status and work authorization to immigrants from countries experiencing war, disaster, or other extraordinary conditions. Venezuelans first received the designation in March 2021 under Biden, following widespread instability, political repression, and economic collapse in their home country.
At the center of the dispute was a re-designation issued in October 2023 and extended in January 2024, just days before Donald Trump retook office. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem moved in February to cancel that extension, arguing that the conditions in Venezuela had improved enough to justify returning its nationals.
"Permitting Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the U.S. national interest," Noem stated, adding that improvements in "the economy, public health, and crime" made it possible for repatriations to begin.
California-based U.S. District Judge Edward Chen blocked the revocation, citing possible racial bias and procedural concerns. He warned that the administration's action could lead to "possible imminent deportation."
The Biden-era designation was set to expire in October 2026, but Noem's reversal could result in expiration as early as this year. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, defending the administration's position, wrote in its emergency application that courts had no authority to review Noem's discretionary power. "The court's order contravenes fundamental executive branch prerogatives and indefinitely delays sensitive policy decisions in an area of immigration policy that Congress recognized must be flexible, fast-paced and discretionary," Sauer stated.
The plaintiffs, supported by the National TPS Alliance, argued that allowing the Trump administration to bypass judicial scrutiny undermines constitutional checks. "It should be unremarkable that federal courts say what the law is," they wrote, adding that implementation of Noem's plan would cause "lost employment and widespread deportations to an unsafe country."
Although Noem cited improving conditions, the U.S. State Department continues to warn Americans against traveling to Venezuela, citing "wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, and poor health infrastructure," according to a May 12 advisory.
