A federal judge in California on Friday ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully in its attempt to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan and Haitian migrants.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem exceeded her authority when she moved to revoke TPS protections, which provide temporary legal status and work permits to migrants from countries facing dangerous conditions. His ruling came in favor of the National TPS Alliance and a group of Venezuelan TPS holders who challenged the decision.
Chen wrote in a 69-page decision that Noem’s actions were “unprecedented in the manner and speed in which [they were] taken” and violated federal law governing agency rulemaking. He said the secretary attempted to send migrants back to conditions so unsafe that even the State Department warns against travel there.
The Justice Department is expected to appeal the ruling. The Department of Homeland Security criticized the decision in a statement, calling TPS “a de facto amnesty program” and pledging to “use every legal option” to terminate the protections.
Congress created TPS in 1990 to allow migrants to remain temporarily in the United States if their home countries face wars, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions. Venezuela, with roughly 600,000 beneficiaries, is currently the largest group under the program. Haiti is also among the countries with active designations.
The Biden administration previously extended TPS designations for both Venezuela and Haiti. After Trump’s return to office, Noem moved to reverse those extensions and terminate the designations. Chen said her actions marked the first time in the program’s history that a secretary attempted to roll back existing TPS protections granted by a predecessor.