🤬 #SCOTUS lets #Trump end protections for #Venezuelans
The #SupremeCourt on Monday allowed the Trump admin to cancel temporary protections [#TPS] that have allowed nearly 350k Venezuelans to remain in the US for #humanitarian reasons.
The #Biden admin created the protected status for Venezuelans in 2021 & 2023, finding that economic & political turmoil under the regime of President Nicolás #Maduro made it too risky to deport migrants back to their home country.
#law
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-lets-trump-end-deportation-protection-venezuelans-2025-05-19/
Ofcls approved a 3rd extension of #TPS in the waning days of #Biden’s presidency that would have kept the protections in place through Oct 2026, but the #Trump admin said the program was not in the “national interest.” [cuz apparently the #US isn’t interested in #HumanRights anymore.] A lower-court judge had barred the admin from ending the temporary protected status while litigation over the matter continues.
The #DHS Secy can designate immigrant groups for protected status if natural disasters, armed conflict or other extraordinary — but temporary — conditions raise fears for migrants’ safety if they are returned to their homelands. The program is intended to end when conditions improve [nothing has changed].
#DHS Secy [dog killer] #KristiNoem rescinded the #Biden extension in Feb, before it took effect, alleging that the #Venezuelans were a strain on local resources &, since some were *accused* of being *members* of the Tren de Aragua gang, represented a public safety threat.
Without the Biden extension, the protections were set to end for some migrants in April & others in September.
“The harm here is particularly pronounced because the Secretary determined that an 18-month extension would harm the United States’ ‘national security’ & ‘public safety,’ while also *straining* police stations, city shelters, & aid services in local communities that had reached a breaking point,” the govt claimed in its filings w/ #SCOTUS.
In Feb, 7 Venezuelan immigrants & a nonprofit org sued the #Trump admin to block the termination of protected status for #Venezuelans. A federal judge in Northern California paused Trump’s action, ruling that the cancellation of protected status violated procedural rules & was probably sparked by #racism.
“[T]he Secy’s action threatens to: inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, & livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the US billions in economic activity, & injure public health & safety in communities throughout the US. At the same time, the govt has failed to identify any real countervailing harm in continuing #TPS for Venezuelan beneficiaries,”the judge wrote in his opinion, which was upheld by the 9thCircuit.
The #Trump admin asked #SCOTUS to intervene.
The immigrants & nonprofit org argued in their filings that Venezuela is still unsafe & the cancellation of the #TPS program was motivated by bias. “The Secretary explicitly relied on false, negative stereotypes—like the myth that Venezuela emptied its prisons to send migrants here—to justify both the vacatur & termination decisions. Her statements conflated Venezuelan TPS holders with ‘dirt bags,’ gang members, & dangerous criminals.”
Earlier this month, the #Trump admin asked the high court to clear the way for it to deport more than 530,000 #immigrants from #Cuba, #Haiti, #Nicaragua & #Venezuela who have been allowed to stay in the #UnitedStates while #asylum & removal proceedings play out.
[yet the admin admitted #White #Afrikaners who are not #refugees by any definition legal or otherwise]
#law #immigration #racism #SCOTUS #Venezuelans #Maduro #HumanRights