The Blubber

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, a program originally extended by former President Joe Biden. The court's decision gives the green light to the Justice Department's request to lift a lower court order that had temporarily blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s move to terminate the protections while the case is under appeal.

TPS is a humanitarian measure under U.S. immigration law that offers deportation relief and work permits to people from countries experiencing war, environmental disaster, or other crises. The Secretary of Homeland Security has the authority to designate or renew TPS based on changing conditions.

Monday’s brief ruling, issued without a full opinion—as is typical for emergency actions—was supported by the court’s conservative majority. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only one to publicly dissent.

The Supreme Court did not close the door to future legal challenges. Migrants may still contest efforts by the administration to revoke work permits or other documentation tied to TPS, especially those slated to remain valid through October 2026 under Biden’s extension.

Roughly 348,200 Venezuelans were covered under the 2023 TPS designation issued by the Biden administration. However, that designation was revoked by Secretary Noem after Trump returned to the presidency in January. Noem moved to terminate protections for a segment of TPS holders who had benefitted from the most recent expansion.

This decision follows a legal challenge brought by TPS recipients and advocacy groups such as the National TPS Alliance. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco had previously ruled against the administration, saying it violated federal procedures governing agency actions. He criticized the government’s blanket characterization of TPS holders as criminals, calling it unfounded and discriminatory, noting that Venezuelan TPS recipients were, on average, better educated and had lower crime rates than the general U.S. population.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had refused to stay Chen’s ruling in April, prompting the Justice Department to turn to the Supreme Court. Government lawyers argued that the lower court had improperly interfered in immigration policy, an area they said requires executive flexibility and swift decision-making.

Plaintiffs opposing the policy change warned that revoking TPS would result in nearly 350,000 people losing legal work status, face potential deportation to dangerous conditions, and cause economic losses in the billions nationwide.

Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and a lead attorney in the case, called the ruling “the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history,” and condemned the court for issuing the decision “in a two-paragraph order with no explanation.”

Trump has vowed to significantly escalate deportations during his current term, including efforts to eliminate protections like TPS for certain immigrant groups.