Court Blocks Government From Terminating Immigration Documents Of 5,000 Venezuelans

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The federal government cannot invalidate immigration documents that allow roughly 5,000 Venezuelan nationals living in the United States to remain in the country until October 2026, a federal court in California ruled on Friday.

In February, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem terminated Venezuela’s 2023 designation for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a temporary immigration status granted when foreign nationals cannot return to their home countries due to safety concerns, such as ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or epidemics.

A TPS designation protects individuals from deportation and allows them to apply for authorization to work in the United States.

The National TPS Alliance, representing TPS holders from across the United States, sued the government, with a federal judge in California issuing an injunction in March blocking the termination of TPS for Venezuelans. On May 19, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the injunction order, affirming Noem’s decision.

Plaintiffs then approached the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, asking for relief, specifically seeking that certain Venezuelans be allowed TPS protections, resulting in the May 30 court order ruling in favor of the plaintiffs.

The court observed that on Jan. 17, the Biden administration had extended the TPS designation for Venezuela from April 2 this year to Oct. 2, 2026. On Feb. 3, Noem vacated the extension. She then terminated Venezuela’s 2023 TPS extension on Feb. 5. The termination came into effect on April 7.

The plaintiffs asked the court to recognize the validity of TPS documentation issued following the Jan. 17 extension and maintain the rights of Venezuelans who received TPS documents that are valid until Oct. 2, 2026. They argued Noem exceeded her statutory authority when she canceled TPS documents on Feb. 3 even though the documents were valid until October next year.

“Plaintiffs’ position is meritorious,” the court said. “Nothing in the TPS statute allows the Secretary to take such action.”

Venezuelans who received documentation based on the Oct. 2, 2026, date are “especially likely to suffer irreparable injury” since they have relied on such documentation to make their plans regarding staying in the United States, the court said.

As such, the court granted relief to Venezuelans with TPS-related documentation issued up to and including Feb. 5, the date when Noem published the TPS termination notice.

“The relief here would not extend to all Venezuelan TPS holders but rather a discrete subset—somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 individuals in the government’s estimation,” the court said.

Protecting National Interests

Noem’s Feb. 5 order ending the 2023 TPS designation for Venezuela said that such a step is necessary “because it is contrary to the national interest to permit the Venezuelan nationals (or aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Venezuela) to remain temporarily in the United States.”

In the TPS statute, Congress “expressly prohibits” the secretary of homeland security from designating a country for TPS or extending this designation if the secretary determines that “permitting the aliens to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States,” the order states.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Ludmila Padrino, a U.S.-based lawyer who works closely with the Venezuelan immigrant community, said that many innocent Venezuelans were being penalized for a small group of individuals who have committed crimes.

“Companies are sending out notifications that people have only a few days to continue working,” she said. “People can’t renew their licenses. It’s complicated, it’s distressing. … The biggest challenge is supporting their families.”

The 2023 TPS designation applies to 350,000 Venezuelans living in the United States.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the Trump administration’s policies are justified because TPS is, “by definition, temporary, and is committed to the discretion of the DHS Secretary.”

“District courts have no right to prevent the Executive Branch from enforcing our immigration laws,” she said. “The Trump Administration will continue to deliver on the President’s promises every day for the American people.”

The May 19 Supreme Court judgment affirming Noem’s decision to cancel the 2023 Venezuela TPS designation is “an important inflection point in the ongoing saga of lawless lower court decisions that flout plain law and legislate from the bench,” Jackson said.