Washington — The Trump administration is reversing the Biden administration’s decision to extend the Temporary Protected Status program for Venezuelans in the U.S., casting a cloud of uncertainty over the hundreds of thousands of migrants enrolled in the policy, according to a Department of Homeland Security notice obtained by CBS News.
Under the move, some Venezuelan migrants with TPS could lose their ability to live and work in the U.S. lawfully as early as this spring. Migrants whose TPS lapses could face deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which the Trump administration has charged with carrying out the largest deportation effort in American history.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked an order issued earlier this month by her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, that would have extended the Venezuela TPS program for 18 months, through October 2026. TPS allows migrants from countries beset by war, environmental disasters and other crises to work and live in the U.S. legally on a temporary basis.
The Biden administration made two TPS designations for Venezuelans, one in 2021 and the other in 2023, citing the country’s economic collapse under the repressive rule of President Nicolas Maduro.
The decision by the Trump administration means that Venezuelans who applied for TPS under the 2021 designation will be able to keep their work permits and deportation protections through September. Those who applied under the 2023 designation will continue to have TPS through at least early April.
Noem has until Saturday, Feb. 1, to decide whether to terminate or extend the 2023 designation, meaning that another announcement could happen soon. If no formal decision is made by then, the designation will be automatically extended by six months.
Roughly 600,000 Venezuelans have protected status, making the Venezuela TPS program the largest of its kind, according to DHS figures. Venezuelans made up a significant portion of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border illegally during the historic migration wave there in the earlier years of the Biden administration.
While hundreds of thousands have come to the U.S., millions of other Venezuelans have settled in countries like Colombia. In all, nearly 8 million Venezuelans have fled their homeland in recent years, according to United Nations figures.
Noem announced her move to scale back the Venezuela TPS program on Fox News on Wednesday morning, after it was reported by The New York Times late Tuesday.
The Biden administration used TPS at an unprecedented scale, making hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees from crisis-stricken countries like Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti and Ukraine eligible for the status.
Some of those programs are likely to be scaled back by Trump administration officials, who argue TPS designations have been extended too often, despite the temporary nature of the policy.
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