WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Trump administration the green light to revoke special legal protections for thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, which could pave the way for them to be deported.
It was “truly shocking” that the Supreme Court authorized the move without giving the case more consideration, he added.
At issue before the Supreme Court was a subsequent designation made in October 2023 and extended in January just before Donald Trump took office.
Their lawyers wrote that the Trump administration was essentially seeking to evade judicial review on the scope of its own powers.
The Supreme Court decision comes just three days after the court handed a defeat to the Trump administration on another aspect of its hard-line immigration agenda in a separate case involving Venezuelan detainees.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration was granted permission by the Supreme Court on Monday to remove special legal protections for thousands of immigrants from Venezuela, potentially leading to their deportation.
Officials can now proceed with overturning a decision made at the end of the Biden administration to extend protections for nearly 350,000 Venezuelans under the federal Temporary Protected Status program after the high court granted an emergency application submitted by the administration.
Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal, would have rejected the application, according to the brief order. The lower courts will now continue to hear the litigation.
“This is the biggest single action in the modern United States to deny immigration status to any group of non-citizens. S. . A lawyer for the Venezuelan plaintiffs in the case, Ahilan Arulanantham, said, “history.”.
He also said it was “truly shocking” that the Supreme Court approved the move without further weighing the case.
Due to political unrest in Venezuela, the Biden administration announced in March 2021 that Venezuelans qualified for temporary protected status under the federal program, which has been in place since 1990 and offers humanitarian aid to those in nations suffering from natural disasters, war, or other calamities.
In addition to having legal status in the US, program participants are eligible for work authorization for a maximum of 18 months, with the possibility of extensions.
The Supreme Court was considering a subsequent designation that was made in October 2023 and extended in January, shortly before Donald Trump was elected president. October 2026 is when it is scheduled to expire.
Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, attempted to reverse those rulings in February, so the protections would now end this year.
California-based U.S. S. . Citing worries that the ruling was partially motivated by racial animosity, District Judge Edward Chen blocked the move.
The affected immigrants face “possible imminent deportation,” he wrote, as a result of Noem’s actions.
Noem’s decision could not be reviewed by the courts, according to Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s emergency application for the administration.
“In an area of immigration policy that Congress recognized must be flexible, fast-paced, and discretionary, the court’s order violates fundamental executive branch prerogatives and indefinitely delays sensitive policy decisions,” he said.
Individual Venezuelans and the National TPS Alliance filed a legal challenge to the action.
The Trump administration was basically trying to avoid judicial review of the extent of its own powers, according to their attorneys.
They went on to say, “The fact that federal courts define the law should not be noteworthy.”.
Noem’s plan, they said, would result in “lost employment and widespread deportations to an unsafe country” if it were implemented. “.
Just three days prior, in a different case involving Venezuelan detainees, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration on another facet of its hard-line immigration agenda.
In that case, the court decided that if the Trump administration wants to deport immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, a law passed during the war, it must give them a real opportunity to object.
