The Trump administration's effort to strip hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan and Haitian migrants of legal protections is unlawful, a U.S. judge has ruled.
The ruling by District Judge Edward Chen sets aside the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) attempt to end temporary protected status (TPS) for people from countries experiencing conditions that make it dangerous to return.
This ruling will allow around 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians to continue living and working legally in the U.S. The DHS has indicated it will appeal the decision.
The TPS program was established by Congress in 1990 to provide temporary protections for migrants from countries experiencing war and natural disasters.
In a 69-page decision, Judge Chen wrote that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's action in revoking their protected status was not only unprecedented in the manner and speed in which it was taken but also violates the law. He stated that conditions in the migrants' home countries were so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel.
In response to the ruling, a DHS spokesperson claimed the TPS program had been abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program, indicating that they would assess their legal options.
About 600,000 migrants have TPS from Venezuela, the largest country included in the program, which was extended under former President Joe Biden to include Haiti, Afghanistan, Cameroon, and Ukraine. Conversely, President Trump sought to reverse the extension when he returned to office earlier this year, also attempting to terminate the designation for Venezuela altogether.
Earlier this year, the administration stated it would revoke the temporary legal status of more than half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, warning them to leave the U.S. before their permits and deportation shields were canceled.
The National TPS Alliance and Venezuelan TPS holders sued the Trump administration and DHS, arguing that Noem did not have the authority to unilaterally roll back the extension granted by the previous administration. Judge Chen noted that the Supreme Court's earlier ruling allowed the Trump administration to end TPS, but did not prevent him from issuing new orders.
This recent ruling comes on the heels of a federal appeals court decision stating that the Trump administration could not continue cuts to foreign aid, requiring it to move quickly to fund mandated projects.
