The United States Supreme Court on Monday permitted President Donald Trump’s administration to end legal protections for almost 350,000 Venezuelans who had previously been shielded from potential deportation. With one noted dissent, the court granted the Justice Department’s request to lift a federal judge’s order that had blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to end deportation protection for Venezuelan migrants under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. The judges did not provide a reason behind their decision as is common in emergency applications. An appeal process is underway in a lower court.
The Temporary Protected Status program allows those already in the United States to live and work legally as their native countries are designated unsafe for return due to natural disasters, ongoing armed conflicts, or other “extraordinary” conditions. Former President Joe Biden had extended the protection policy for Venezuelans for 18 months, citing ongoing crises in Venezuela under President Nicolas Maduro. In February, Noem announced that protections for a specific group of Venezuelans in the US would be revoked in the beginning of April. A federal court in San Francisco halted the move, after which the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s order drew strong reactions from activists, with some calling it the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern US history. The decision was seen as a “xenophobic, discriminatory, and racist attack” by some, while the US Homeland Security said it was a “win for the American people and the safety of our communities”. Prior to his election, Trump had campaigned on the promise to deport millions of undocumented migrants, and some of the executive orders around immigration passed by Trump have seen pushback from judges across the US.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/us-supreme-court-allows-trump-to-revoke-protected-status-for-venezuelans/a-72603181?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
