US Supreme Court Sanctions Termination of TPS for 350,000 Venezuelans

The ruling lifts a lower court's stay on Temporary Protected Status, signaling a major shift in the U.S. immigration landscape under Trump's presidency.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration's plan to end deportation protections for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans currently residing in the country. The decision cancels a hold established by a California federal judge, which had maintained Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans whose protections were set to expire last month. TPS grants legal residency and work authorization to individuals from countries facing precarious conditions such as armed conflict or natural disasters.

This ruling represents a significant triumph for President Trump, who has frequently turned to the high court for backing in his immigration policy initiatives. Under the administration's proposal, the protections would have officially ended much earlier than planned, in April 2025, rather than the previously scheduled October 2026. Government lawyers contended that the federal court had overstepped by interfering with the Executive Branch's authority over immigration and foreign relations.

Ahilan Arulanantham, an attorney representing the TPS holders, remarked that this action is "the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history." He expressed shock that the Court issued an order consisting of just two paragraphs without any accompanying explanation. The immediate and long-term humanitarian and economic implications of the ruling are expected to be significant.

Due to the nature of the emergency appeal, the justices refrained from detailing their reasoning, with only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson registering dissent against the decision. The Trump administration is also likely to revoke TPS for thousands of Haitians in the near future.

This ruling represents the latest in a series of Supreme Court decisions addressing immigration policies advocated by the Trump administration. Last week, the administration sought the Court's support to abolish humanitarian parole for numerous immigrants, including those from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. In a recent setback, however, the Supreme Court blocked Trump's attempt to utilize the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to expedite the deportation of immigrants in northern Texas, raising questions about the legal grounds of such actions.