Content of the Decision

• On March 31, Judge Edward Chen of the Ninth Circuit Court issued a decision in the National TPS Alliance v. Noem litigation ordering a temporary halt to the cancellation of deportation relief and employment authorization permits for approximately 350,000 Venezuelan Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries. The cancellation was supposed to take effect on April 7, 2025.
• Beneficiaries of Venezuela's 2023 TPS designation will retain their deportation relief and employment authorization permits until at least October 18, 2026, or until the court case is resolved.

Arguments of the Lawsuit 

• The plaintiffs argued that Secretary Noem's sudden reversal of protections violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which establishes specific procedures for federal agencies when implementing policy changes. The plaintiffs also argued that Noem's decision was motivated by racial and political bias.
• The plaintiffs also demonstrated the possibility that the Secretary of Homeland Security's actions were unauthorized by law, arbitrary, capricious, and motivated by animosity, which is unconstitutional.
• Former President Biden's administration first granted TPS to Venezuelan nationals in March 2021, considering the growing instability in the country, and extended it in 2023. Two weeks before the end of his presidential term, on January 17, 2025, the Biden administration extended the protections for an additional 18 months. This announcement was issued by former Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on January 17, 2025. The judge's March 31st decision applies nationwide to the 2023 TPS designation for Venezuela.
• The rationale for the 2023 TPS extension for Venezuelan nationals was as follows: "The extraordinary and temporary conditions that prevent Venezuelan nationals from safely returning include the ongoing severe economic and political crises within Venezuela, which are impacting all sectors, including limited access to food, basic services, and adequate medical care, and the deterioration of the rule of law and the protection of human rights."
• Following Secretary Noem's January 17 decisions to rescind and terminate the extension on February 28, 2025, the National TPS Alliance filed a lawsuit outlining three claims for relief:
  
  • 1. The government violated the Administrative Procedure Act because the Secretary's decision to rescind the 2023 extension of the designation was arbitrary and capricious. Fundamentally, the Secretary lacked the authority to reconsider her predecessor's TPS extension. "The TPS statute carefully regulates the duration of TPS extensions, the conditions under which they may be terminated, and the timeline for doing so. Secretary Noem did not have the authority to rescind a TPS extension under the timeline and procedures used in this case." Furthermore, the Secretary “objected to the extension to allow 2021 TPS beneficiaries to register under the 2023 extension, but failed to consider that 2021 TPS beneficiaries were also necessarily eligible for TPS under the 2023 designation.”
  • 2. Furthermore, the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because the Secretary’s decision to terminate the 2023 TPS designation was arbitrary and capricious. For example, the decision assumed that TPS designations are unlawful, and “the investigation, consultation, and review process that led to the decision deviated dramatically from past practice without explanation.”
  • 3. The government violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Act because the “decisions to rescind the extension of TPS for Venezuela and to terminate Venezuela’s 2023 designation were motivated, at least in part, by intentional discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or national origin.”

Court Decision Arguments

• Judge Chen determined that the Secretary of Homeland Security's action could cause irreparable harm to hundreds of thousands of people, whose lives, families, and livelihoods would be severely disrupted; it would cost the United States billions of dollars in economic activity; and it would harm public health and safety in communities across the country.
• In his analysis, Judge Chen stated that Secretary Noem's arguments linking TPS recipients to the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) claims are completely lacking in evidentiary support: "Generalizing criminality to the Venezuelan population benefiting from TPS as a whole is baseless and denotes racism based on widespread false stereotypes."
• Judge Chen compared the situation experienced by Venezuelan migrants with the persecution and irreparable harm experienced by thousands of people of Japanese origin in the internment camps created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941, during World War II.
• The judge also stated that the Trump administration has not demonstrated the harm of maintaining TPS for Venezuela. For these reasons, Judge Chen granted the request to postpone the challenged actions until the merits of the case are resolved. 

Talking Points

• Noem attempted to eliminate TPS with unfounded arguments, without considering the devastating impact on thousands of families and the US economy.
• The cancellation would have caused irreparable harm to hundreds of thousands of families, affecting the economic and social stability of many communities.
• The link between TPS beneficiaries and the Tren de Aragua gang was an unsubstantiated generalization based on racist stereotypes.
• Immigrant communities and their allies must continue to organize to defend their rights and demand permanent solutions.

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