IS THIS COUNTRY NOT A COUNTRY OF LAW? SO WHY ARE ALL THOSE NON-DEMOCRATIC AND ARBITRARY MEASURES BEING TAKEN?

[Serge Pierre-Pierre]

SEPTEMBER 6, 2025

IS THIS COUNTRY NOT A COUNTRY OF LAW? 

SO WHY ARE ALL THOSE NON-DEMOCRATIC AND ARBITRARY MEASURES BEING TAKEN? 
 
Judge blocks Trump administration's ending of legal protections for 1.1M Venezuelans and Haitians
JANIE HAR
Fri, September 5, 2025 at 3:57 PM EDT·5 min  
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to reporters before touring "Camp 57," a facility to house immigration detainees at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary legal protections that have granted more than 1 million people from Haiti and Venezuela the right to live and work in the United States.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco for the plaintiffs means 600,000 Venezuelans whose temporary protections expired in April or whose protections were about to expire Sept. 10 have status to stay and work in the United States. It also keeps protections for about 500,000 Haitians.
Chen scolded Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for revoking protections for Venezuelans and Haitians that the judge said would send them “back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries.”
He said Noem's actions were arbitrary and capricious, and she exceeded her authority in ending protections that were extended by the Biden administration.
Presidential administrations have executed the law for 35 years based on the best available information and in consultation with other agencies, “a process that involves careful study and analysis. Until now," Chen wrote.
Plaintiffs and their attorneys welcomed the news Friday, although it's unclear if it would help people who have already been deported.
“In recent months, people have suffered unspeakable harm — including deportation and family separation — due to the Supreme Court greenlighting Secretary Noem’s discriminatory and harmful agenda," said Emi Maclean, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California. "That must end now.”
A DHS spokesperson said in an email that the program has been “abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program” and that “unelected activist judges” cannot stop the American people's desire for a secure country.
“While this order delays justice, Secretary Noem will use every legal option at the Department’s disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans," the email read.
The second Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration has resulted in ramped-up arrests of people in the country illegally, but also an end to programs that offer legal yet temporary authorization to live and work in the U.S. if conditions in immigrants’ homelands are deemed unsafe.
According to court documents, the administration has terminated Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, and Humanitarian Parole designations for about 1.5 million people, prompting lawsuits across the country from immigrant advocates.
Temporary Protected Status is a designation that can be granted by the Homeland Security secretary to people in the United States, if conditions in their homelands are deemed unsafe for return due to a natural disaster, political instability or other dangerous conditions.
Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. The country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and an ineffectual government.
Haiti was first designated for TPS in 2010 after a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of people, and left more than 1 million homeless. Haitians face widespread hunger and gang violence.
Their designations were to expire in September but later extended until February, due to a separate court order out of New York.
Noem said that conditions in both Haiti and Venezuela had improved and that it was not in the national interest to allow migrants from the countries to stay on for what is a temporary program. Attorneys for the government have said the secretary’s clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program are not subject to judicial review.
Designations are granted for terms of six, twelve or 18 months, and extensions can be granted so long as conditions remain dire. The status prevents holders from being deported and allows them to work.
The secretary’s action in revoking TPS was not only unprecedented in the manner and speed in which it was taken but also violated the law, Chen wrote.
The case has had numerous legal twists, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In March, Chen temporarily paused the administration’s plans to end TPS for people from Venezuela. An estimated 350,000 Venezuelans were set to lose protections the following month.
But the U.S. Supreme Court in May reversed his order while the lawsuit played out. The justices provided no rationale, which is common in emergency appeals, and did not rule on the merits of the case.
Venezuelans with expired protections were fired from jobs, separated from children, detained by officers and even deported, lawyers for TPS holders said.
A court declaration provided by plaintiffs showed the turmoil caused by the Trump administration and the Supreme Court decision.
After appearing for her annual immigration check-in, a restaurant hostess living in Indiana was deported back to Venezuela in July. Her husband, a construction company supervisor, cannot work and care for their baby daughter at the same time.
In June, a FedEx employee appeared in uniform at his required immigration check-in only to be detained, the court declaration states. He slept for about two weeks on a floor, terrified he would be sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. His wife cannot maintain the household on her earnings.
“I am not a criminal,” he said in the declaration, adding that “immigrants like myself come to the United States to work hard and contribute, and instead our families and lives are being torn apart.”
The Supreme Court’s reversal does not apply to Friday’s ruling. The government is expected to appeal.
Last week, a three-judge appeals panel also sided with plaintiffs, saying the Republican administration did not have the authority to vacate protection extensions granted by the previous administration.
 
Judge blocks Trump administration's ending of legal protections for 1.1M Venezuelans and Haitians
JANIE HAR
Fri, September 5, 2025 at 3:57 PM EDT·5 min  
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to reporters before touring "Camp 57," a facility to house immigration detainees at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary legal protections that have granted more than 1 million people from Haiti and Venezuela the right to live and work in the United States.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco for the plaintiffs means 600,000 Venezuelans whose temporary protections expired in April or whose protections were about to expire Sept. 10 have status to stay and work in the United States. It also keeps protections for about 500,000 Haitians.
Chen scolded Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for revoking protections for Venezuelans and Haitians that the judge said would send them “back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries.”
He said Noem's actions were arbitrary and capricious, and she exceeded her authority in ending protections that were extended by the Biden administration.
Presidential administrations have executed the law for 35 years based on the best available information and in consultation with other agencies, “a process that involves careful study and analysis. Until now," Chen wrote.
Plaintiffs and their attorneys welcomed the news Friday, although it's unclear if it would help people who have already been deported.
“In recent months, people have suffered unspeakable harm — including deportation and family separation — due to the Supreme Court greenlighting Secretary Noem’s discriminatory and harmful agenda," said Emi Maclean, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California. "That must end now.”
A DHS spokesperson said in an email that the program has been “abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program” and that “unelected activist judges” cannot stop the American people's desire for a secure country.
“While this order delays justice, Secretary Noem will use every legal option at the Department’s disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans," the email read.
The second Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration has resulted in ramped-up arrests of people in the country illegally, but also an end to programs that offer legal yet temporary authorization to live and work in the U.S. if conditions in immigrants’ homelands are deemed unsafe.
According to court documents, the administration has terminated Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, and Humanitarian Parole designations for about 1.5 million people, prompting lawsuits across the country from immigrant advocates.
Temporary Protected Status is a designation that can be granted by the Homeland Security secretary to people in the United States, if conditions in their homelands are deemed unsafe for return due to a natural disaster, political instability or other dangerous conditions.
Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. The country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and an ineffectual government.
Haiti was first designated for TPS in 2010 after a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of people, and left more than 1 million homeless. Haitians face widespread hunger and gang violence.
Their designations were to expire in September but later extended until February, due to a separate court order out of New York.
Noem said that conditions in both Haiti and Venezuela had improved and that it was not in the national interest to allow migrants from the countries to stay on for what is a temporary program. Attorneys for the government have said the secretary’s clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program are not subject to judicial review.
Designations are granted for terms of six, twelve or 18 months, and extensions can be granted so long as conditions remain dire. The status prevents holders from being deported and allows them to work.
The secretary’s action in revoking TPS was not only unprecedented in the manner and speed in which it was taken but also violated the law, Chen wrote.
The case has had numerous legal twists, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In March, Chen temporarily paused the administration’s plans to end TPS for people from Venezuela. An estimated 350,000 Venezuelans were set to lose protections the following month.
But the U.S. Supreme Court in May reversed his order while the lawsuit played out. The justices provided no rationale, which is common in emergency appeals, and did not rule on the merits of the case.
Venezuelans with expired protections were fired from jobs, separated from children, detained by officers and even deported, lawyers for TPS holders said.
A court declaration provided by plaintiffs showed the turmoil caused by the Trump administration and the Supreme Court decision.
After appearing for her annual immigration check-in, a restaurant hostess living in Indiana was deported back to Venezuela in July. Her husband, a construction company supervisor, cannot work and care for their baby daughter at the same time.
In June, a FedEx employee appeared in uniform at his required immigration check-in only to be detained, the court declaration states. He slept for about two weeks on a floor, terrified he would be sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. His wife cannot maintain the household on her earnings.
“I am not a criminal,” he said in the declaration, adding that “immigrants like myself come to the United States to work hard and contribute, and instead our families and lives are being torn apart.”
The Supreme Court’s reversal does not apply to Friday’s ruling. The government is expected to appeal.
Last week, a three-judge appeals panel also sided with plaintiffs, saying the Republican administration did not have the authority to vacate protection extensions granted by the previous administration.
Up next
 
San Francisco federal judge again blocks Trump from stripping immigration protections for Venezuelans, Haitians
Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein
Fri, September 5, 2025 at 6:17 PM EDT·3 min 
 
A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from revoking the temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants, calling the administration’s bid to cast them out of the country “unlawful” and based on false rationales.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s move to terminate the “temporary protected status” afforded by the Biden administration was “preordained without any [meaningful] analysis and review.”
The ruling is the latest episode in litigation that has ping-ponged through the federal courts for months. In an earlier phase of the case, the Supreme Court permitted one of Noem’s decisions on the subject to stand while the litigation proceeded in the lower courts. That emergency order from the justices lifted a previous block that Chen had imposed on the TPS revocations.
Chen, an Obama appointee based in San Francisco, said his new ruling did not conflict with the Supreme Court’s prior order because, at that point, the case was in a preliminary posture, and the justices’ decision applied only to a temporary block he had issued. The high court, he wrote, did not prevent him from fully considering the merits of the case and rendering a final judgment on the challengers’ argument that Noem’s policy change violated the federal law that governs agency decisionmaking.
Acknowledging the certain appeal from the Trump administration, Chen made his ruling effective immediately, citing the “significant rights of the Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders who have lost or will lose status in the absence of relief.”
TPS is a form of legal status under federal immigration law that allows immigrants from countries facing humanitarian crises to remain in the U.S. and work legally.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson expressed confidence the ruling would be overturned.
“For decades the TPS program has been abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program,” the spokesperson said in a statement. "While this order delays justice, Secretary Noem will use every legal option at the Department’s disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans. … Unelected activist judges cannot stop the will of the American people for a safe and secure homeland."
While Trump administration officials have complained that the Biden administration admitted many immigrants without conducting thorough background checks, at least some of those eligible for TPS arrived during President Donald Trump’s first term and were granted similar protection by him shortly before he left office.
The ruling from Chen comes amid a debate in legal circles about whether some judges are deliberately ignoring or bucking Supreme Court rulings.
Last month, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh signed an opinion decrying such defiance. But some lower court judges have argued that the high court’s typically terse decisions in emergency cases leave significant uncertainty about how to apply those rulings.
The Supreme Court’s May order effectively nullifying Chen’s earlier ruling and allowing the administration to proceed to wind down TPS for Venezuelans contained no explanation of the justices’ rationale, but suggested those with work permits or similar paperwork marked as being valid into next month might have better claims. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only member of the court to note dissent from that order.
Chen’s ruling is the latest setback for Trump’s mass deportation agenda, following a series of lower-court rulings that have similarly blocked his effort to quickly deport groups once granted protections by the Biden administration. The Supreme Court has, in some instances, interceded to permit the Trump administration’s policies to remain in effect. But broader litigation on all of them remains ongoing.

 
Judge blocks Trump administration's ending of legal protections for 1.1M Venezuelans and Haitians
JANIE HAR
Fri, September 5, 2025 at 3:57 PM EDT·5 min read
3.5k
 
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to reporters before touring "Camp 57," a facility to house immigration detainees at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary legal protections that have granted more than 1 million people from Haiti and Venezuela the right to live and work in the United States.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco for the plaintiffs means 600,000 Venezuelans whose temporary protections expired in April or whose protections were about to expire Sept. 10 have status to stay and work in the United States. It also keeps protections for about 500,000 Haitians.
Chen scolded Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for revoking protections for Venezuelans and Haitians that the judge said would send them “back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries.”
He said Noem's actions were arbitrary and capricious, and she exceeded her authority in ending protections that were extended by the Biden administration.
Presidential administrations have executed the law for 35 years based on the best available information and in consultation with other agencies, “a process that involves careful study and analysis. Until now," Chen wrote.
Plaintiffs and their attorneys welcomed the news Friday, although it's unclear if it would help people who have already been deported.
“In recent months, people have suffered unspeakable harm — including deportation and family separation — due to the Supreme Court greenlighting Secretary Noem’s discriminatory and harmful agenda," said Emi Maclean, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California. "That must end now.”
A DHS spokesperson said in an email that the program has been “abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program” and that “unelected activist judges” cannot stop the American people's desire for a secure country.
“While this order delays justice, Secretary Noem will use every legal option at the Department’s disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans," the email read.
The second Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration has resulted in ramped-up arrests of people in the country illegally, but also an end to programs that offer legal yet temporary authorization to live and work in the U.S. if conditions in immigrants’ homelands are deemed unsafe.
According to court documents, the administration has terminated Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, and Humanitarian Parole designations for about 1.5 million people, prompting lawsuits across the country from immigrant advocates.
Temporary Protected Status is a designation that can be granted by the Homeland Security secretary to people in the United States, if conditions in their homelands are deemed unsafe for return due to a natural disaster, political instability or other dangerous conditions.
Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. The country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and an ineffectual government.
Haiti was first designated for TPS in 2010 after a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of people, and left more than 1 million homeless. Haitians face widespread hunger and gang violence.
Their designations were to expire in September but later extended until February, due to a separate court order out of New York.
Noem said that conditions in both Haiti and Venezuela had improved and that it was not in the national interest to allow migrants from the countries to stay on for what is a temporary program. Attorneys for the government have said the secretary’s clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program are not subject to judicial review.
Designations are granted for terms of six, twelve or 18 months, and extensions can be granted so long as conditions remain dire. The status prevents holders from being deported and allows them to work.
The secretary’s action in revoking TPS was not only unprecedented in the manner and speed in which it was taken but also violated the law, Chen wrote.
The case has had numerous legal twists, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In March, Chen temporarily paused the administration’s plans to end TPS for people from Venezuela. An estimated 350,000 Venezuelans were set to lose protections the following month.
But the U.S. Supreme Court in May reversed his order while the lawsuit played out. The justices provided no rationale, which is common in emergency appeals, and did not rule on the merits of the case.
Venezuelans with expired protections were fired from jobs, separated from children, detained by officers and even deported, lawyers for TPS holders said.
A court declaration provided by plaintiffs showed the turmoil caused by the Trump administration and the Supreme Court decision.
After appearing for her annual immigration check-in, a restaurant hostess living in Indiana was deported back to Venezuela in July. Her husband, a construction company supervisor, cannot work and care for their baby daughter at the same time.
In June, a FedEx employee appeared in uniform at his required immigration check-in only to be detained, the court declaration states. He slept for about two weeks on a floor, terrified he would be sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. His wife cannot maintain the household on her earnings.
“I am not a criminal,” he said in the declaration, adding that “immigrants like myself come to the United States to work hard and contribute, and instead our families and lives are being torn apart.”
The Supreme Court’s reversal does not apply to Friday’s ruling. The government is expected to appeal.
Last week, a three-judge appeals panel also sided with plaintiffs, saying the Republican administration did not have the authority to vacate protection extensions granted by the previous administration.
 
San Francisco federal judge again blocks Trump from stripping immigration protections for Venezuelans, Haitians
Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein
Fri, September 5, 2025 at 6:17 PM EDT·3 min read
24
 
A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from revoking the temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants, calling the administration’s bid to cast them out of the country “unlawful” and based on false rationales.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s move to terminate the “temporary protected status” afforded by the Biden administration was “preordained without any [meaningful] analysis and review.”
The ruling is the latest episode in litigation that has ping-ponged through the federal courts for months. In an earlier phase of the case, the Supreme Court permitted one of Noem’s decisions on the subject to stand while the litigation proceeded in the lower courts. That emergency order from the justices lifted a previous block that Chen had imposed on the TPS revocations.
Chen, an Obama appointee based in San Francisco, said his new ruling did not conflict with the Supreme Court’s prior order because, at that point, the case was in a preliminary posture, and the justices’ decision applied only to a temporary block he had issued. The high court, he wrote, did not prevent him from fully considering the merits of the case and rendering a final judgment on the challengers’ argument that Noem’s policy change violated the federal law that governs agency decisionmaking.
Acknowledging the certain appeal from the Trump administration, Chen made his ruling effective immediately, citing the “significant rights of the Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders who have lost or will lose status in the absence of relief.”
TPS is a form of legal status under federal immigration law that allows immigrants from countries facing humanitarian crises to remain in the U.S. and work legally.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson expressed confidence the ruling would be overturned.
“For decades the TPS program has been abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program,” the spokesperson said in a statement. "While this order delays justice, Secretary Noem will use every legal option at the Department’s disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans. … Unelected activist judges cannot stop the will of the American people for a safe and secure homeland."
While Trump administration officials have complained that the Biden administration admitted many immigrants without conducting thorough background checks, at least some of those eligible for TPS arrived during President Donald Trump’s first term and were granted similar protection by him shortly before he left office.
The ruling from Chen comes amid a debate in legal circles about whether some judges are deliberately ignoring or bucking Supreme Court rulings.
Last month, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh signed an opinion decrying such defiance. But some lower court judges have argued that the high court’s typically terse decisions in emergency cases leave significant uncertainty about how to apply those rulings.
The Supreme Court’s May order effectively nullifying Chen’s earlier ruling and allowing the administration to proceed to wind down TPS for Venezuelans contained no explanation of the justices’ rationale, but suggested those with work permits or similar paperwork marked as being valid into next month might have better claims. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only member of the court to note dissent from that order.
Chen’s ruling is the latest setback for Trump’s mass deportation agenda, following a series of lower-court rulings that have similarly blocked his effort to quickly deport groups once granted protections by the Biden administration. The Supreme Court has, in some instances, interceded to permit the Trump administration’s policies to remain in effect. But broader litigation on all of them remains ongoing.
Palm Beach Daily News
Immigration crackdown: Judge again halts Trump bid to end TPS for Venezuelans, Haitians
Valentina Palm, Palm Beach Post
Fri, September 5, 2025 at 3:08 PM EDT·7 min read
4
A federal judge has again halted President Donald Trump's effort to strip Temporary Protected Status from 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians living in the United States. Many of them live in South Florida and stood to lose their legal status by November, placing them at risk of deportation.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled on Sept. 5 that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's termination of TPS for more than 1 million Venezuelans and Haitians was "unlawful" and restored their legal protections. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
It is still unknown if hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals will have their TPS applications, work permits and driver's licenses renewed before they expire next week. Failure to renew them could make it difficult for them to work and provide for their families.
TPS is a humanitarian status that lets people from specific countries live and work in the United States without fear of deportation for a period of time. Every applicant must undergo annual background checks to renew their status.
In January, Noem announced her agency would vacate TPS extensions that the administration of former President Joe Biden had granted in 2021 and 2023 to over 600,000 Venezuelans.
In June, she announced the termination of TPS held by 500,000 Haitians, many of whom have been living in the United States since their TPS was first granted in 2010 after an earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation.
Noem has argued conditions have improved in Venezuela and Haiti, nations still going through political upheavals plus fuel and food shortages. Her orders marked the first time the U.S. government had terminated TPS before the end of its designated period in the program's 35 years.
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Chen's order concluded that while DHS has the discretion to establish, extend and end TPS designations, Noem lacked the authority to revoke TPS protection set forth in extensions approved by the previous administration. It followed the Trump administration's appeal of his earlier order to a three-judge panel.
"In enacting the TPS statute, Congress designed a system of temporary status that was predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics," that panel wrote in August. It upheld Chen's previous rulings blocking the termination of legal protections for Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders.
Judge's ruling comes as tensions escalate between U.S., Venezuela
The order removing TPS was issued even as military tensions escalate between Washington and Caracas, the South American nation's capitol.
On Sept. 2, Trump revealed U.S. forces had carried out a strike against a vessel in the southern Caribbean Sea that the president accused of transporting illegal drugs. U.S. forces killed 11 people, whom Trump and other U.S. officials claimed were members of a Venezuelan gang.
Trump has also ramped up the military presence in the region by dispatching additional air and naval forces, including more than a handful of warships, to the waters off South America's northeast coast. His administration has said the deployment is to stop the illegal flow of drugs and apply greater pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, who introduced the bipartisan bill Venezuela TPS Act of 2025, praised Chen's decision in a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
"TPS recipients are legal," Wasserman Schultz, whose district includes several Venezuelan and Haitian neighorbhoods, wrote on Sept. 5. "Trump’s attempts to revoke their status were illegal. The judge just made that distinction clear."
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What is Temporary Protected Status?
Temporary Protected Status is granted to residents of specific countries that are suffering from armed conflict, a natural disaster or other "extraordinary and temporary" conditions that make returning home unsafe.
It allows people covered by it to live and work in the United States, but they are not considered permanent residents, nor do they have a pathway either to permanent residency or citizenship.
To obtain TPS, recipients must pass a full background check and they may not have any previous felony convictions or two or more misdemeanors. They must also renew their applications every 18 months.
Having TPS allows them to get drivers licenses and receive Social Security numbers, a requirement to work legally in the United States and to file taxes, but they do not have access to any federal public benefits, including Social Security.
The designation prevents people from being deported to their native countries while TPS is in effect.
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Why make a new push to terminate TPS now?
The Biden administration granted TPS to Venezuelans living in the United States because of the South American nation's "severe humanitarian emergency," which includes human rights violations, political turmoil, economic collapse, and shortages of food and medicine under Maduro.
Over 500,000 Haitian refugees have TPS protections that have been extended due to the country's political turmoil and rampant gang violence in the aftermath of the earthquake 15 years ago.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump promised to end TPS protections for hundreds of thousands of people as part of his vow to stem immigration across the U.S. southern border.
Noem argued TPS had allowed criminals to enter the United States and that keeping the designation was against the national interest.
"Given Venezuela’s substantial role in driving irregular migration and the clear magnet effect created by Temporary Protected Status, maintaining or expanding TPS for Venezuelan nationals directly undermines the Trump Administration’s efforts to secure our southern border and manage migration effectively,” said Matthew Tragesser, a spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
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Noem’s order however, contradicts a 2024 report by the U.S. Department of State that found human rights violations have worsened in Venezuela, reaching "a new milestone in the degradation of the rule of law.”
"Noem’s generalization of the alleged acts of a few (for which there is little or no evidence) to the entire population of Venezuelan TPS holders who have lower rates of criminality and higher rates of college education and workforce participation than the general population is a classic form of racism," Chen wrote in his order.
In August, the U.S. Department of State posted a $50 million reward for the apprehension of Maduro, identifying him as the leader of the Cartel de los Soles, an international criminal organization involved in the drug trade. The Trump administration subsequently took action on the alleged narcotics trafficking vessel on Sept. 2.
In Noem's order, DHS encouraged Venezuelans to self-deport using the U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP Home app that offers offers complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus and "potential future opportunities for legal immigration."
Catalina Restrepo, a Greenacres immigration lawyer from Greenacres, said the constant back-and-forth has left her Venezuelan clients living in fear.
She said some had told her their employers have threatened to turn them away from work after Sept. 10, leaving them without any means to provide for themselves. Others worry they will be detained by immigration authorities and separated from their families.
For all of them, their biggest fear is getting deported to Venezuela, with many saying it would be a death sentence.
Venezuelan TPS holders have lived in South Florida for years, Restrepo said, and make up an important part of the state's labor market filling service-oriented jobs as caretakers, teachers and restaurant and hotel workers.
"They contribute opening up businesses, working in our everyday shops, factories, and all sorts of different jobs," Restrepo said. "They are here to make our communities better."
 
A protest over Venezuela's presidential election held July 28, had more than 100 Treasure Coast residents turning up at the Cashmere Shell Station at Southwest Cashmere Boulevard in Port St. Lucie, Aug. 18, 2024. More than 100 residents from across the Treasure took part in the global protest over the poll results in Venezuela's presidential election. The government-controlled electoral commission in Venezuela declared President Nicolas Maduro was the winner, for a third six-year term in office. The opposition said their candidate Edmundo Gonzalez was the winner and they wanted the data from the polling stations to verify the election. Venezuela's Supreme Court backed Maduro on Aug. 22.
Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vp...@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Judge blocks Trump's new bid to end TPS for Venezuelans, Haitians

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