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“The district court’s reasoning is untenable,” he told the justices, adding that the TPS program “implicates particularly discretionary, sensitive, and foreign-policy-laden judgments of the Executive Branch regarding immigration policy.”
The controversy centers on the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back protections for Venezuelan nationals designated under TPS. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem officially revoked the status in a February memo, with the termination set to take effect in April.
“On October 3, 2023, Venezuela was newly designated for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) due to extraordinary and temporary conditions preventing the safe return of Venezuelan nationals. After reviewing current country conditions and consulting with appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the Secretary of Homeland Security has determined that Venezuela no longer meets the conditions for the 2023 designation. Specifically, it has been determined that it is contrary to the national interest to permit the covered Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States. Therefore, the 2023 TPS designation of Venezuela is being terminated,” the memo read.
The memo also outlined the prior decisions under the Biden administration.
“On March 9, 2021, then Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas designated Venezuela for TPS based on his determination that there existed ‘extraordinary and temporary conditions’ in Venezuela that prevented nationals of Venezuela from returning in safety and that permitting such aliens to remain temporarily in the United States is not contrary to the U.S. national interest,” it noted.
“On September 8, 2022, then Secretary Mayorkas extended the Venezuela 2021 TPS designation for 18 months. On October 3, 2023, Secretary Mayorkas extended the Venezuela 2021 TPS designation for another 18 months with an expiration date of September 10, 2025, and separately newly designated Venezuela for 18 months, a decision the former Secretary called a ‘redesignation’ (Venezuela 2023 designation) with an expiration of April 2, 2025, resulting in two separate and concurrent Venezuela TPS designations. See Extension and Redesignation of Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status.”
Secretary Noem’s action effectively reversed Mayorkas’s January 2025 extension.
“On January 28, 2025, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem vacated former Secretary Mayorkas’s January 10, 2025 decision, restoring the status quo that preceded that decision,” the memo said.
The lower court fight saw U.S. District Judge Edward Chen temporarily block Noem’s plan, criticizing the administration’s characterization of TPS beneficiaries. Chen claimed the depiction of migrants as potential criminals was “baseless and smacks of racism.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also weighed in on a separate immigration issue in Florida, declining to reinstate a state law that would have allowed local authorities to prosecute migrants entering illegally. The court issued the order without comment or dissent.
Florida’s SB 4-C law criminalizes entering the state after illegally entering the U.S. and evading immigration authorities. Last year, a similar Texas law was allowed to take effect by the Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, an Obama appointee, blocked Florida’s law indefinitely, finding it likely conflicted with federal immigration policy. Florida appealed, and the case reached the Supreme Court after the 11th Circuit upheld the injunction.
The Supreme Court’s rulings signal a broader affirmation of executive authority in immigration matters while highlighting the ongoing tension between federal oversight and state-level immigration enforcement.
