New Supreme Court Ruling Clears Way for Trump to End Protection for Venezuelan Migrants

The US Supreme Court has cleared the path for the Trump administration to halt deportation protections for roughly 350,000 Venezuelans residing in the United States.

This decision overturns an earlier order by a California judge that had maintained Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans whose legal protections were set to expire last month.

TPS grants individuals the ability to legally live and work in the US if their home country is considered too dangerous due to conflict, natural disasters, or other “extraordinary and temporary” situations.

The outcome is a legal victory for President Donald Trump, who has consistently turned to the Supreme Court to push through immigration-related policies.

At the time, Alejandro N Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, said the Biden administration extended the program “due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent nationals from returning safely.”

He described Venezuela as being in the midst of “a complex humanitarian crisis marked by widespread hunger and malnutrition, a growing influence and presence of non-state armed groups, repression, and a crumbling infrastructure”.

Figures from the UN refugee agency reveal that nearly eight million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014. While many settled in Latin American and Caribbean nations, a significant number relocated to the United States.

The Trump administration had aimed to end TPS protections and associated work permits by April 2025 — over a year ahead of their original expiration date in October 2026.

In court, government attorneys contended that the US District Court for the Northern District of California had interfered with “the Executive Branch’s inherent powers as to immigration and foreign affairs” by blocking the administration’s plan.

Ahilan Arulanantham, legal representative for the TPS holders, told the BBC that this case may represent “the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern US history”.

“That the Supreme Court authorized this action in a two-paragraph order with no reasoning is truly shocking,” Mr Arulanantham added. “The humanitarian and economic impact of the Court’s decision will be felt immediately, and will reverberate for generations.”

Because this case was presented as an emergency request, the Supreme Court justices did not explain their decision.

Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson registered a dissent, according to the court’s brief order.

The Trump administration is also expected to move forward in August with plans to terminate TPS protections for many Haitians.

This ruling is one of several recent immigration-related decisions the Supreme Court has been asked to resolve under the Trump administration’s policies.

Just last week, the administration requested the high court to eliminate humanitarian parole for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

However, not all efforts have succeeded — on Friday, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s attempt to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants from north Texas. The justices questioned whether the president had the legal authority to enforce such an action.