The US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration on Monday to end legal protections that have shielded some 350,000 Venezuelans from potential deportation. The US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration on Monday to end legal protections that have shielded some 350,000 Venezuelans from potential deportation.
The Supreme Court issued an appeal by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to terminate temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans as an appeal continues in a lower court. The United States awards TPS to foreign nationals who are unable to return home safely due to war, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” circumstances.
A California federal judge imposed a temporary hold in March on the Trump administration’s proposal to terminate TPS for Venezuelan nationals. US District Judge Edward Chen termed the proposal to terminate TPS as “smacking of racism” and mislabeling Venezuelans as criminals.
Acting based on a negative group stereotype and applying such stereotype to the whole group is the quintessential definition of racism,” Chen said. Solicitor General John Sauer submitted an emergency request to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court requesting the court to halt the judge’s order.
“As long as the order remains in place, the secretary is required to allow hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals to stay in the United States, despite her reasoned judgment that it is ‘contrary to the national interest,'” Sauer stated. Previous president Joe Biden renewed TPS for another 18 months just days prior to Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.
Trump ran for president on a platform of deporting millions of illegal migrants and several of his executive orders on immigration have faced resistance from judges all over the nation – including the Supreme Court.
Trump attacked the Supreme Court last week after it prevented his attempt to restart deportations of purported members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua under an unusual wartime statute, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA). The Supreme Court of the United States is not letting me do what I was elected to do,” he claimed. “This is a bad and dangerous day for America!
