The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday granted the Trump administration the right to remove temporary protected status to roughly 350,000 Venezuelans living in the United States.
The per curiam order is in response to the decision of a Northern California district court judge barring Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s February notice that would have terminated a Biden-era 18-month extension of the protected status for Venezuelan nationals in April.
Judge Edward M. Chen ruled in March that Noem’s TPS revocation for Venezuelans who came in under former President Joe Biden’s then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ program would “inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied the Trump administration’s appeal to stay Chen’s ruling, resulting in it being heard by the higher court.
The TPS program was enacted during President George H.W. Bush’s administration and allows citizens of designated countries protected immigration status in the U.S. while conditions in their home countries (such as civil war, natural disaster, etc.) are deemed unsafe for return.
The program typically ends when a safe return is ensured. The Biden extension would have protected some migrants through 2026, according to The Washington Post. Without the extension, some programs were set to end in April and others in September.
In the unsigned decision, the Supreme Court granted a stay on Chen’s order, meaning DHS can move forward in its efforts to end protected legal status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua who came via parole processes under Biden.
However, the order is “without prejudice to any challenge” of Noem’s decisions regarding the termination of the program moving forward.
Following the notice of termination in February, several Venezuelan migrants and a nonprofit organization sued the Trump administration to block the end of the TPS program.
Ahilan Arulanantham, an attorney for TPS holders in the case, said the Supreme Court order is “the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history,” per ABC News.
“That the Supreme Court authorized this action in a two-paragraph order with no reasoning is truly shocking,” he added. ”The humanitarian and economic impact of the Court‘s decision will be felt immediately, and will reverberate for generations.”