The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to end a temporary immigration status that allowed more than 300,000 Venezuelans to stay and work in the United States.
In a brief, unexplained order, the justices lifted a district court action that blocked a decision from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to reverse a Biden-era extension of the Temporary Protected Status designation for Venezuelan nationals. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted that she would not have done so, but did not explain her reasoning.
The Biden administration made two designations for TPS, one in 2021 that extended to September 2025, and one in 2023 that extended until April 2025, according to the Justice Department application asking the justices to intervene. In January, the Biden administration announced an extension of both until October 2026, the DOJ application said.
Noem in February decided to cancel the extension of the 2023 designation, arguing that it was contrary to the national interest and that the timing of the Biden-era extension meant it had not yet gone into effect, the DOJ application said.
In March, a federal judge found that Noem’s decision on the 2023 designation violated federal administrative law. The judge issued a nationwide injunction on revoking the status, which had been put in place because of alleged dangers the country would present under President Nicolas Maduro.
Monday’s order pauses that lower court ruling, allowing the administration to revoke the protections while the case moves forward.
The justices also noted that challenges could still be brought by those with documents issued with October 2026 expiration dates.
In the Supreme Court application, the Justice Department argued that federal law does not give judges the power to review revocations of TPS protections.
Those decisions are “quintessentially unreviewable decisions under the statutory framework that Congress enacted,” the application said.
“The court’s order contravenes fundamental Executive Branch prerogatives and indefinitely delays sensitive policy decisions in an area of immigration policy that Congress recognized must be flexible, fast-paced, and discretionary,” the application said.
The order comes amid increasing tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary, as Trump and his allies have chafed at court rulings requiring court process before deporting immigrants.
On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a decision stopping the administration from continuing deportations under a centuries-old wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, without further court notifications.
Over the weekend Trump shared multiple posts criticizing the Supreme Court, including one calling for the release of “terrorists” near the justices’ homes and asserting that “The Supreme Court must come to the RESCUE OF AMERICA.”
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