Supreme Court allows Trump to strip protected status for thousands of Venezuelans

Trump admin. can strip Venezuelans of protected status

The Supreme Court agreed to lift a lower court injunction that blocked President Donald Trump's decision to terminate the protected legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants living in the U.S., in a win for the administration. The decision clears the way for the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to terminate Biden-era Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for roughly 300,000 Venezuelan migrants living in the U.S.

The Supreme Court on Monday said it will allow the Trump administration to strip legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans.

The court's order, with only one noted dissent, puts on hold a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that kept in place Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelans that would have otherwise expired last month. The justices provided no rationale, which is common in emergency appeals.

A federal appeals court had earlier rejected the administration’s request to put the order on hold while the lawsuit continues.

Immigration under Trump administration 

The case is the latest in a string of emergency appeals President Donald Trump's administration has made to the Supreme Court, many of them related to immigration.

Dig deeper:

Last week, the government asked the court to allow it to end humanitarian parole for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, setting them up for potential deportation as well.

The high court has also been involved in legal battles over Trump’s efforts to swiftly deport Venezuelans accused of being gang members to a prison in El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act.

The administration has moved aggressively to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the country, including ending the temporary protected status for a total of 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians. That status is granted in 18-month increments.

Last week, DHS announced that TPS for Afghanistan, first provided in 2022, would end in mid-July.

The other side:

"This decision will force families to be in an impossible position, either choosing to survive or choosing stability," said Cecilia Gonzalez Herrera, who sued to try and stop the Trump administration from revoking legal protections from her and others like her.

"Venezuelans are not criminals," Gonzalez Herrera said.

"We all deserve the chance to thrive without being sent back to danger," she said.

What is Temporary Protected Status?

The backstory:

Congress created TPS, as the law is known, in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to live and work in the U.S. if the Homeland Security secretary deems conditions in their home countries are unsafe for return.