US Supreme Court Allows Trump to Revoke Protected Status for 350,000 Venezuelans

The US Supreme Court has ruled for a second time that the Trump administration can end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants, stripping them of protection from deportation and work permits.

The conservative-majority court first granted the administration’s request in May and reaffirmed it Friday, despite objections from the three liberal justices.

The ruling effectively freezes a September decision by Judge Edward Chen in California, which had blocked the administration’s attempt to end TPS.

In its order, the court said: “Although the posture of the case has changed, the parties’ legal arguments and relative harms generally have not. The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissenting, accused the majority of prioritizing the administration’s urgency over the lives of TPS holders. “We once again use our equitable power (but not our opinion-writing capacity) to allow this Administration to disrupt as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible,” she wrote.

TPS was granted to Venezuelans during President Joe Biden’s tenure due to Venezuela’s political repression and economic collapse under President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration argues that ending TPS aligns with its broader immigration crackdown.