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600,000 Venezuelans Could Face Deportation as Trump Ends TPS Extension

On Tuesday Trump’s DHS secretary ended Biden's TPS extension for Venezuelans, leaving thousands without protection after Sept. 10.

Rommel H. Ojeda

Jan 29, 2025

Photo: Beatrice Murch

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The Trump administration revoked the 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuela, DHS announced on Tuesday, impacting approximately 600,000 beneficiaries in the United States whose protection from deportation expires on Sept. 10, 2025. 

Kristi Noem, the recently confirmed homeland security secretary, rescinded the extension following a frenzy of executive orders by President Trump who promised to crack down on immigration. President Biden extended TPS for Venezuelans during his last month in office to provide those eligible protection until Oct. 2, 2026.

Trump’s policy changes were, however, not unprecedented, Nils Kinuani, federal policy manager at African Communities Together, said. 

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“[Trump] can cancel those TPS designations prior to their expiration,” Kinuani told Documented. “He has done that in the past. He has the power and authority to do that.” 

Kinuani explained that during the first Trump administration, they had challenged the early termination of TPS designations in the Ramos v. Mayorkas case, where TPS holders and their U.S. citizen children argued that the termination was motivated by racism and violated the Administrative Procedure Act. They won a preliminary injunction in 2018, which preserved the TPS holders’ lawful status for five years.

Also Read: TPS: What Temporary Protected Status Means for Civilians who Qualify

How the reversal of the extension will impact the approximately 600,000 Venezuelans depends on a case by case basis, Kinuani said. 

“People will usually have TPS as a backup,” he said. “For our members, most of them are applying for asylum or for a green card, so TPS is usually a backup option for people who have an asylum case. In case it gets denied, they can remain in the country.” 

Kinuani explained that those impacted the most would be immigrants who do not have other pathways to obtain a different status in the U.S. 

Also Read: What Non-Citizens Need to Know About the U.S. Presidential Election

“If they do not have any other status, or anything allowing you to stay in the country, then, you can be deported,” he said. “You can be targeted as someone being in the country without authorization.”

TPS was established in the Immigration Act of 1990 and it allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to grant temporary protected status to immigrants from countries facing ongoing conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary conditions in their home country that make it unsafe for them to return. TPS is designated for up to 18 months, with the option to extend (re-designate) repeatedly based on the circumstances of the country in question.

In 2023, Biden re-designated and extended TPS for Venezuelans. The TPS extension allowed Venezuelan nationals who received TPS under the 2021 designation to extend their status until Sept. 10, 2025. The extension, dubbed Venezuela 2023, expanded eligibility to Venezuelans who resided in the U.S. by July 31, 2023, and were physically present by October 3, 2023. Those approved will also have TPS until Sept. 2025. 

Along with Venezuela, Biden also extended TPS for Sudan, El Salvador and Ukraine, roughly granting 400,000 beneficiaries an extended protection. 

“As far as what people can do is advocate for [TPS] extensions and find different status options,” Kinuani said. He added that TPS for South Sudan will expire in May, 2025 and that ACT and other partner organizations will be sending letters to DHS to extend the TPS designation for the country.

Also Read: Haitian Asylum Seekers Seek TPS Extension After Harrowing U.S. Journey

Rommel H. Ojeda

Rommel is a bilingual journalist and filmmaker based in NYC. He is the community correspondent for Documented. His work focuses on immigration, and issues affecting the Latinx communities in New York.

@cestrommel

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