The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Trump administration can revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the country, paving the way for their deportation.
Concretely, the court granted an emergency application from the administration to reverse a decision by the Biden administration to extend protection for TPS recipients.
Solicitor General John Sauer had argued that the district court order currently preventing the termination "wrested control of immigration policy away from the Executive Branch," and insisted that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's determination to end protections was lawful and based on national interest.
The decision in question was issued back in March by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, who issued a temporary injunction against the termination stating that "the secretary's action threatens to inflict irreparable harm" on hundreds of thousands of people and could cost the U.S. billions in economic activity.
Chen also found that the administration had "failed to identify any real countervailing harm" to continuing TPS and said the plaintiffs were likely to prove that the decision was "unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus." Chen's ruling referenced comments by Noem portraying Venezuelans as gang members and labeling them "dirt bags" on social media. NBC News detailed that litigation will continue in lower courts.
TPS offers deportation relief and work authorization to migrants from countries facing war, disaster, or extraordinary conditions. The Biden administration granted TPS to Venezuelans in 2021, citing repression, humanitarian collapse, and civil unrest under President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has argued that those conditions no longer justify continued protections.
President Donald Trump has consistently denounced Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro and supported the Venezuelan opposition, but the revocation of TPS marks a shift from his first administration, during which he granted Venezuelans Deferred Enforced Departure status on his last day in office.
The decision to revoke TPS has caused consternation among Venezuelans in the U.S., many of whom supported the Trump administration.
In this context, many Venezuelans who made it to Florida and supported Trump say they feel betrayed as they face the prospect of being deported. "You can feel the fear," Daniel Oropeza, a Temporary Protected Status holder whose entire family is facing the possibility of deportation, told CNN earlier this year. "You stop doing things that you normally did before because you don't know for certain if in a couple of weeks you're going to be able to remain in the country."
Several Republicans from Florida have been repeatedly criticized for their support of the measure, with groups setting up billboards across the state to draw attention to the matter.
"Deporting good immigrants back to dictatorships is cruel," reads the ad, which has also featured on the Miami Herald's website. Marco Rubio and Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez are singled out in the signs. Some of the billboards and digital ads are in their districts.
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center, showed that almost three in four Latinos (72%) now disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president, with 54% who do so strongly. Only Black people surveyed had a higher disapproval rate of Trump, with 82%.
The scenario contrasts with the gains made by Trump with the demographic in the last election, swinging 19 points to favor Trump nationally compared with 2020, according to preliminary exit polls. Harris still won a slight majority of the electorate, 52% to 46%, but it was a dramatic decrease over Joe Biden's 33-point margin in 2020.
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