By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) -A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that U.S. President Donald Trump‘s administration had likely acted unlawfully when it rolled back temporary protections from deportation granted to 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States during his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden’s tenure.
A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a judge’s ruling finding that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem likely lacked authority to cancel a Biden-era decision to extend Temporary Protected Status for eligible Venezuelans.
That ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen was put on hold in May by the U.S. Supreme Court, clearing the way for the administration to end temporary protections for about 348,000 of the Venezuelans at issue. The other Venezuelans’ status as a result of Noem’s action would expire on September 10.
While Chen’s ruling remains on hold while the litigation plays out as a result of the Supreme Court’s order, lawyers for a group of Venezuelans and the advocacy group National TPS Alliance hailed the ruling as a victory.
“Today’s decision does not give us an immediate solution, but it sends a signal that we are on the right side of history,” Jose Palma, co-coordinator of the National TPS Alliance, said in a statement.
A further appeal by the administration is likely. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a statement said the ruling “delays justice and undermines the integrity of our immigration system.”
Temporary Protected Status is available to people whose home country has experienced a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event. It provides eligible migrants with work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.
The 9th Circuit’s decision came in a lawsuit filed by several Venezuelans living in the U.S. and the National TPS Alliance, an advocacy group.
They challenged Noem’s February 3 decision to vacate a decision the Department of Homeland Security had made in the waning days of the Biden administration to extend the program until October 2026, which she said was justified based on “notable improvements” in the conditions in Venezuela.
U.S. Circuit Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, writing for the appellate panel, said Venezuelans “were suddenly faced with the fear of prematurely losing their status within a matter of weeks or months.”
Wardlaw, who like the other judges on the panel was appointed by a Democratic president, said Noem’s action was inconsistent with the statute governing Temporary Protected Status, which Congress intended to be “predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics.”
“The TPS statute is designed to constrain the Executive, creating predictable periods of safety and legal status for TPS beneficiaries,” Wardlaw wrote. “Sudden reversals of prior decisions contravene the statute’s plain language and purpose.”
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Rosalba O’Brien)
