Supreme Court Sides With Trump Over Ending Temporary Protections for 350K Migrants

The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration Monday to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for about 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially paving the way towards deportation.

The justices, with only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting, paused a lower court ruling that had extended TPS protections beyond their April expiration. No explanation was given, as is typical in emergency appeals.

TPS allows migrants to live and work in the U.S. if their home countries are deemed unsafe due to crises like war or natural disaster.

“This decision will force families to be in an impossible position either choosing to survive or choosing stability,” said plaintiff Cecilia Gonzalez Herrera.

Attorney Ahilan Arulanantham, representing migrants, called it “the single largest action in modern American history stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status.”

The Biden administration had continued TPS for Venezuelans, first granted in 2021. But a Trump-appointed legal team argued that District Judge Edward Chen overstepped by blocking the policy change. Solicitor General D. John Sauer noted TPS revocation isn’t the same as a final deportation order.

Homeland Security praised the ruling as a win for national safety and accused the Biden administration of “exploit[ing] programs to let poorly vetted migrants into this country.”

The case is one of several Trump-era immigration disputes before the Court. Recently, the administration also sought to end humanitarian parole for migrants from Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

Since 2013, over 7.7 million people have fled Venezuela due to political repression and economic collapse. The latest inflation data shows prices up 172% year over year, prompting President Nicolás Maduro to declare an “economic emergency.”

TPS, created by Congress in 1990, offers temporary protection from deportation for people from unstable regions. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for next week.