Trump administration ends Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan migrants
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Temporary Protected Status is available to people whose home country has experienced a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - The US Department of Homeland Security on Sept 3 moved to end a Biden-era designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelan migrants in the US.
The department said Venezuela no longer met the TPS requirements.
Temporary Protected Status is available to people whose home country has experienced a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event.
It provides eligible migrants with work authorisation and temporary protection from deportation.
“Weighing public safety, national security, migration factors, immigration policy, economic considerations, and foreign policy, it’s clear that allowing Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not in America’s best interest,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
The designation is set to expire on Sept 10. According to data published by the Congressional Research Service in December 2024, more than 256,000 Venezuelans received TPS under the 2021 designation.
US President Donald Trump’s administration first took steps towards removing the protection for Venezuelans against deportation in February, less than a month after Mr Trump returned to the White House.
Although a federal court blocked the move in March, the US Supreme Court later granted the federal government permission to proceed with deportations.
In August, an appeals court ruled that the Trump administration had likely acted unlawfully when it rolled back temporary protections from deportation granted to 600,000 Venezuelans living in the US when former Democratic president Joe Biden was in office. REUTERS
