The Trump administration has revoked deportation protections for more than 300,000 Venezuelans living in the United States, adding to the uncertainty for many who were already affected by a previous decision to cancel an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
The move comes just days after Trump’s administration reversed an 18-month extension of TPS that had been granted in the final days of President Joe Biden’s term. That decision impacted more than 600,000 Venezuelans.
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Now, a smaller group of Venezuelans who were granted TPS in 2023 and expected to stay until at least April will lose their protections. They have been given just 60 days before they risk deportation.
Another 250,000 Venezuelans who received TPS in 2021 still have protection until September, but their future is now uncertain.
TPS is a federal program that allows people fleeing natural disasters or armed conflict to live and work in the US, though it does not provide a direct path to citizenship. Many Venezuelans in the US were granted TPS to escape the political and economic crisis under President Nicolás Maduro.
The Venezuelan opposition website El Pitazo described the cancellation of the Biden-era extension as having “fallen like an atomic bomb over this migrant community.”
Journalist Andrés Oppenheimer, writing in the Miami Herald, pointed out that Trump’s move affected “some of his most ardent supporters in the US—both voters and TPS-holders”, as reported by The Guardian.
Trump has long been critical of the TPS program. During his first term, he attempted to end protections for immigrants from El Salvador and Haiti.
On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the decision on NBC News’ Meet the Press. Wearing a cowboy hat, she mistakenly referred to TPS as “TPP” and claimed it had lost credibility.
Noem also repeated Trump’s campaign claim that the Venezuelan government had released prisoners and sent them to the US She further alleged that “folks from Venezuela who have come into this country are members of TDA,” referring to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, The Guardian reported.
However, the Department of Homeland Security has identified only about 600 migrants in the US who may have ties to the gang, a tiny fraction of the 600,000 Venezuelans with TPS protections.
