Trump admin cancels deportation protections for 600,000 Venezuelans

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said that the Trump administration has revoked a decision that would have protected roughly 600,000 people from Venezuela from deportation, putting some at risk of being removed from the country in about two months.

Noem signed a notice on Wednesday reversing a move by her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, in the waning days of the Biden administration to extend Temporary Protected Status.

The change is effective immediately and comes amid a slew of actions as the Trump administration works to make good on promises to crack down on irregular immigration and carry out the largest mass deportation effort in US history.

"Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months they were going to extend this protection to people that are on Temporary Protected Status, which meant that they were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months," Noem told "Fox and Friends."

"We stopped that," Noem said.

Implications

Under the Biden administration's extension, protections for Venezuelans were extended until October 2026.

That now reverts to two separate designations — one that expires this April and one in September.

Venezuelans would lose their ability to work in the US and be at risk of being deported.

Noem has until Saturday to decide what to do about the group whose protections expire in April and until July 12 for those whose protections expire in September. If she does nothing, the protections automatically extend for another six months.

The US doesn't have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, limiting deportation options.

Federal regulations allow the extensions to be terminated early, though that's rarely been done, and groups sued when Trump took steps to end the protections during his first term.

The National TPS Alliance, an advocacy group, said Wednesday that it is prepared to challenge this decision in court.

Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorisation to work in increments of up to 18 months at a time.

About 1 million immigrants from 17 countries are protected by TPS, including people from Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine and Lebanon. Venezuelans are one of the largest beneficiaries.

The TPS designation gives people the legal authority to be in the country but doesn't provide a long-term path to citizenship.