A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday stopped the Trump administration from revoking deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, days before their ability to remain and work in the U.S. was set to end.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had revoked the extension of Temporary Protected Status for a large group of Venezuelans on Feb. 3, effective April 7. The decision would have meant that as of Wednesday, as many as 350,000 Venezuelans, many of them living in South Florida, would have lost the ability to legally work in the U.S, and a few days later would have been vulnerable to detention and deportation.
Days before he left office, President Joe Biden had extended TPS for Venezuela for an additional 18 months, valid until October 2026.
A group of seven Venezuelans facing deportation, along with an advocacy group named the National TPS Alliance, sued the Trump administration in federal court on Feb. 19, arguing that the government’s decision to end deportation protections for Venezuelans is unlawful, politically motivated, racially discriminatory, and part of a broader pattern of bias against non-European, non-white immigrants.
U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen, overseeing the case, agreed Monday, saying that Noem’s actions against all Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries were based on broad negative generalizations and stereotypes.
“It is evident that the Secretary made sweeping negative generalizations about Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries,” the judge said in a 78-page order. “Acting on the basis of a negative group stereotype and generalizing such stereotype to the entire group is the classic example of racism.”
The judge said the Venezuelans who sued have provided significant evidence that TPS holders and their families would suffer irreparable harm if the revocation was allowed to go forward.
“In contrast, the government’s contention that the public interest weighs in its favor is not convincing because the government lacks any evidence of national security harms,” the judge added.
More than 900,000 Venezuelans currently reside in the U.S., with more than 607,000 benefiting from TPS in two different groups with different timelines for their protection to end. It is unclear how many would be affected by the ending of TPS, because some of them area also involved in other immigration proceedings, such as petitions for political asylum.
In his ruling, the judge said termination of the TPS for the Venezuelan community would have more than just an economic impact on the United States and the local communities where TPS holders live. There would be other issues of public safety, he said, because fear of detention and deportation can cause undocumented immigrants to forego medical care, such as diagnostic testing and vaccinations, which increases health risks to the broader community.
During a hearing before Chen on March 24, Justice Department attorney Sarah L. Vuong argued that “the harms to the government are that the secretary has reviewed the issue, made a determination regarding the national interest, and has a vested interest in ensuring her orders are executed.”
The judge dismissed that argument Monday, saying “the government simply contends that the public interest weighs against postponement of the agency actions because of national security interests. But the government’s assertion that Venezuelan TPS holders pose some kind of danger to the country or the communities where they live is entirely unsubstantiated.”
The judge said he is halting to the revocation of TPS on a nationwide basis, because Homeland Security’s actions affect Venezuelan TPS holders across the country.
Chen is the same judge who, in October 2018, issued a preliminary injunction halting the first Trump administration’s attempt to terminate the TPS program for immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan. Nearly two years after his initial ruling, a federal appeals court reversed the injunction, though it remained in effect until February 2024, when the judge approved the Biden administration’s motion to dismiss the case.
Venezuela was initially granted TPS in March 2021, enabling more than 257,000 individuals to apply for protection. In 2023, the designation was extended to include an additional 350,000 Venezuelans. This decision was met with widespread approval in South Florida, which is home to one of the largest Venezuelan communities in the U.S.
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 7:11 PM.
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Verónica Egui Brito ha profundizado en temas sociales apremiantes y de derechos humanos. Cubre noticias dentro de la vibrante ciudad de Hialeah y sus alrededores para el Nuevo Herald y el Miami Herald. Nacida y criada en Caracas, Venezuela. Se unió al Herald en 2022. Verónica Egui Brito has delved into pressing social, and human rights issues. She covers news within the vibrant city of Hialeah, and its surrounding areas for el Nuevo Herald, and the Miami Herald. Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. Joined the Herald in 2022.