More than a quarter million Venezuelan migrants in the US will lose legal status Nov. 7, the Department of Homeland Security said as it continues to lean heavily on national interest to justify removal of protections.
They’re the latest group of immigrants to have protections under the Temporary Protected Status program targeted by the Trump administration as it pursues a broader effort to remove humanitarian relief for more than a million immigrants in the US. DHS has already terminated TPS designations for immigrants from six countries, including another group of 350,000 Venezuelans who lost protections earlier this year.
The agency previously announced the termination Sept. 3.
TPS allows immigrants without another legal status to remain in the US with legal work authorization for up to 18 months when it’s deemed unsafe for them to return to their home countries because of conditions like armed conflict and natural disasters.
DHS, which is already fighting legal challenges for multiple TPS terminations, in a Federal Register notice released Friday that the economic outlook in Venezuela had sufficiently improved to remove the protections. Even if extraordinary conditions remained that prevented a safe return home, the agency said it’s “contrary to the national interest” to allow Venezuelans covered by a 2021 TPS designation to remain. The agency argued the program is a “pull factor” for immigration to the US and linked TPS recipients to the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua.
A San Francisco federal judge in March ruled that the government had made no showing that TPS holders are members of or linked to the gang, finding the earlier TPS termination unlawful. A panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit also found last month that the termination of protections was likely unlawful because the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
The US Supreme Court however had already granted a request by DHS allowing it remove protections while litigation continues.
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