The decision keeps the benefit in place for a vulnerable community amid a context marked by renewed tensions between the United States and Venezuela. Photograph: Peg Hunter / Flickr
Guacamaya, August 30, 2025. This Friday, Donald Trump’s attempt to eliminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 600,000 Venezuelans was halted. The decision, issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, offers temporary relief for program beneficiaries who legally reside and work in the United States.
The panel of three judges unanimously upheld a previous ruling from a lower court that blocked the termination of TPS for Venezuelans. Judge Kim Wardlaw, appointed by Bill Clinton, emphasized in the ruling that “in enacting TPS, Congress designed a temporary system that is predictable, trustworthy, and removed from partisan and electoral politics.”
In this context, the judges supported the plaintiffs’ argument that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem lacked the authority to revoke the previous 18-month TPS extension approved under the Biden administration. The court also acknowledged that canceling the protection would severely impact the lives, families, and livelihoods of the beneficiaries.
TPS was created as a humanitarian program to protect foreign nationals from countries in crisis due to war, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances. The decision to temporarily maintain this protection for Venezuelans prevents beneficiaries from being deported amid the ongoing political and humanitarian crisis reported in Venezuela.
The U.S. Supreme Court had allowed Trump’s administration to proceed with revoking TPS in a prior designation earlier this May. However, the Ninth Circuit’s decision calls for a more thorough review and temporarily extends protection to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States.
Following the ruling, Judge Edward Chen of the San Francisco District Court—known for previously blocking TPS termination—is expected to resume the final resolution. The recent escalation of tensions with Venezuela, whose government the Trump administration considers linked to drug trafficking, further strengthens the argument of the protected migrants.
