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SAN FRANCISCO — A group of Venezuelans with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) today sued the Trump administration over its unprecedented attempt to strip hundreds of thousands of migrants of lawful immigration status.
The suit, brought by the National TPS Alliance and eight Venezuelan TPS holders, accuses Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of illegally revoking an 18-month extension of TPS for Venezuelans that the Biden administration granted in January. Noem’s reversal means 350,000 Venezuelans will now lose TPS on April 7 – in less than two months – and another 250,000 are expected to lose TPS in September 2025, instead of retaining protection through October 2026.
“TPS holders are mothers, fathers, workers and contributing members of our community,” said Jose Palma, Co-coordinator of the National TPS Alliance, a member-led organization of tens of thousands of TPS holders from across the country. “We reject the Trump administration’s racist and inaccurate portrayal of Venezuelan TPS holders. Venezuelan TPS holders, like all TPS holders, are lawfully present here pursuant to protection granted because it is not safe for them to return to their country right now. Illegally rescinding their lawful status is cruel and harmful for both TPS holders and our communities.”
The administration’s termination not only robs over 600,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S. of legal status and work permits, but will also place them in acute danger if they are forced to return to a country that is in the midst of an unprecedented economic and political crisis.
“I am stunned to have TPS ripped out from under me, at a moment’s notice. I trusted that the government would stand by its word when it extended TPS, and now my life is upended,” said Freddy Arape, an IT support specialist in Texas, and one of the plaintiffs in the case. “It doesn’t make sense--TPS exists exactly for the situation that Venezuelans face right now: we cannot return safely to Venezuela, a country in crisis.”
At issue in the case is the administration’s unprecedented action move to rescind a TPS extension just weeks after granting it. Since Congress established TPS in 1990, no administration has ever moved to rescind it early, before the 18-month time period specified by the law, until now.
The suit argues that DHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act because the law does not permit early terminations and failed to follow the necessary rules by rushing to its new decision without the required review.
The suit also challenges the termination as motivated by racial animus in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection. During the campaign, and in announcing the new TPS decision, Secretary Noem and President Trump have consistently used racist tropes to dehumanize Venezuelans.
The plaintiffs are represented by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the ACLU Foundations of Northern California and Southern California, and the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA School of Law.
“Secretary Noem had no authority to ‘undo’ the Biden Administration’s lawful extension of humanitarian protection to Venezuelan migrants. And her explanation for her decision is irrational and riddled with legal errors. The Administrative Procedure Act requires reasoned decision-making, which this is not,” says Jessica Bansal, an attorney with NDLON who is representing the plaintiffs.
“Venezuela is in crisis. Even Trump admits that. The influx of Venezuelans to the United States due to their country’s humanitarian crisis is exactly the reason that TPS exists,” says Emi MacLean, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, who is representing the plaintiffs. “Revoking TPS for Venezuelans is the product of racist motivations prohibited under the Constitution; it cannot stand.”
“Congress enacted the TPS statute to ensure the United States would follow consistent and predictable humanitarian protection policy. The Administration’s attempt to strip 600,000 Venezuelans of the status the government promised them just weeks ago is the opposite of what Congress intended,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, Faculty Co-Director of CILP.
Read the complaint.
