The Trump administration has revoked a recent Biden-era extension of temporary deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States. The decision, announced by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, reverses an 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuela that President Joe Biden made just before leaving office.
TPS is a federal program that shields people from countries in turmoil from deportation and grants them work permits. There were 505,400 TPS approved recipients from Venezuela as of December 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The decision could have devastating consequences in Florida, the state with the largest population of TPS recipients in the country. Almost 60% of the state’s TPS beneficiaries are from Venezuela.
Venezuelan immigrants and their families are expressing anxiety and uncertainty over the roll back. Many have been living in the United States for years, fleeing political persecution and economic instability in their home country.
U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Miami Republican, said that “Venezuela’s Dictator Nicolas Maduro jails, beats, rapes, and kills anyone who speaks against him,” and that’s why she “supported TPS for Venezuelans fleeing political persecution.”
The Department of Homeland Security is able to designate protected status after a review of conditions in the country involved. Previously, war, environmental disasters, and internal conflict have all led to TPS designations. But the protections are temporary, and they can end unless Homeland Security extends them.
The decision is part of a broader assault the new administration has launched on dismantling the U.S. immigration system, according to immigration attorney Ira Kurzban. Kurzban believes that President Trump will also go after Haiti’s TPS status as well, considering his promise to deport Haitians as he was campaigning for the presidency.
The decision is likely to be challenged in the courts, with Kurzban and other lawyers preparing to stop the administration in the courts.
