WASHINGTON – A federal judge in California stopped the US Department of Homeland Security on Monday from ending temporary protected status for more than 350,000 Venezuelans next week.

The group was to lose deportation protections by April 7 after nullifying the extension of protection in the first week of DHS Executive Director Christie Noem taking office. It will be deployed by the Biden administration.

order It will not apply to another group of 250,000 Venezuelans who are scheduled to lose their status in September.

US District Judge Edward Chen for the Northern District of California said the group that filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration is likely to succeed in their claims. He said Gnome’s decision to vacate a temporary protected position for Venezuelans is not only arbitrary and whimsical, but also costs billions of dollars to harm TPS holders and harm the US economic losses and public health and safety of the US community.

DHS did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment.

Programs for at-risk immigrants

The TPS allows citizens of the country that are deemed dangerous for those in their position to return to the United States, where people with status are not allowed to have people permitted to live in the United States for 18 months, unless extended by the DHS secretary.

The Biden administration’s order extended protections for two groups of Venezuelans until October 2026. One was originally assigned a temporary protection status in 2021, while another group was assigned in 2023.

Chen’s orders apply only to groups that first gained status in 2023. The 2021 Group is also challenging its Trump administration status, but the group’s status remains in place until September.

Chen said the Trump administration “did not identify any real countervailing harm in continuing the TPS for Venezuelan beneficiaries.”

Chen was appointed in 2011 by President Barack Obama.

Gang activity quoted

The group that filed the lawsuit against NOEM represents the Venezuelan TPS holders.

The group argued that Gnome’s decision to end the 2023 protection and TPS for Venezuelans was arbitrary and whimsical.

They also argued that the Trump administration’s decision to violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause, destroy expansion and end protection was “motivated, at least in part, by intentional discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or national origin.”

Noem Gang activity quoted As her reason for not expanding the TPS of the Venezuelan group in 2023.

The Trump administration has it Called the alien enemy law They will soon deport Venezuelan citizens over the age of 14 suspected of having ties to the Tren de Aragua gang. The federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on the use of wartime laws.

“Classic Examples of Racism”

Chen said that lawyers on behalf of the Trump administration had a threat to the Tren de Aragua gang, but “it never showed that the Venezuelan TPS holders were members of the gang or otherwise had any connection to the gang.”

Chen also rejected the Trump administration’s argument that Noem has legal authority to exempt it from expanding protections.

“The unprecedented action of vacating existing TPS (a step that previous administrations have never taken in the 35 years of the TPS program) begins just three days after Secretary Noem took office and reverses the actions taken by the Biden administration since 2021 to expand temporary protections for Venezuelan people,” he writes.

Chen pointed out that there are strong claims under the Equality Protection Clause when allowing a nationwide suspension because Noem “has made negative generalizations about Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries.”

“This is evident not only in what she said, but also in the fact that she has decided to take a massive action against hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries,” he said. “Being on negative group stereotypes and generalizing such stereotypes across groups is a classic example of racism.”

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to end the TPS designation of certain citizens. During Trump’s first term, DHS tried to end TPS in Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Sudan, but the court was We blocked these attempts in 2018.

Noem also moved from Haiti to end the TPS for the people. That decision also poses legal challenges.

Last updated at 5:11am, April 1, 2025