A federal appeals court blocked plans to end temporary protected status (TPS) for roughly 600,000 Venezuelans, maintaining TPS while legal challenges proceed. A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel unanimously upheld a lower court injunction, finding plaintiffs likely to succeed in claiming that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lacked authority under the statute to vacate prior TPS extensions. The Biden administration had extended TPS for Venezuelans. The panel emphasized Congress intended TPS to be predictable and insulated from politics. DHS criticized the ruling as obstruction by unelected judges and pledged to pursue legal options. Congress created TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990 to protect those fleeing temporary crises.
The ninth circuit judges found that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that homeland security secretary Kristi Noem had no authority to vacate or set aside a prior extension of TPS because the governing statute written by Congress does not permit it. The administration of Trump's Democratic presidential predecessor Joe Biden had extended TPS for people from Venezuela.
In an email, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) condemned the decision as more obstruction from unelected activist judges. For decades the TPS program has been abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program, the email read. While this injunction delays justice and undermines the integrity of our immigration system, secretary Noem will use every legal option at the department's disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans.
In enacting the TPS statute, Congress designed a system of temporary status that was predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics, judge Kim Wardlaw, who was nominated by president Bill Clinton, a Democrat, wrote for the panel. The other two judges on the panel were also nominated by Democratic presidents.
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