A federal appeals court on Sept. 17 rejected an attempt by the Trump administration to set aside a judge’s order ruling that it unlawfully rolled back temporary protected status (TPS) for Venezuelans living in the United States.
The San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to pause the Sept. 5 ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen that the administration may not cancel their TPS and that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to do so was unlawful.
The three-judge panel on Wednesday said: “More than 600,000 Venezuelan citizens living in the United States rely on the protections provided by Venezuela’s TPS status. Vacating and terminating Venezuela’s TPS status threw the future of these Venezuelan citizens into disarray, and exposed them to a substantial risk of wrongful removal, separation from their families, and loss of employment.”
The panel said in its judgment that it declined the request to stay the district court’s order while the administration pursues an appeal.
TPS is a designation that allows people from countries affected by events such as armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions to stay in the United States. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it is a temporary benefit that “does not lead to lawful permanent resident status or give any other immigration status.”
In February, the federal government said conditions in Venezuela had improved enough to justify removing the TPS designations. Then, in May, the Supreme Court granted President Donald Trump’s request to remove legal protections for Venezuelan nationals, opening up the potential for deportations.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said that the Ninth Circuit’s ruling “is nothing short of open defiance against the U.S. Supreme Court.”
“Luckily for us, and for all Americans, the Ninth Circuit is not the last stop,” she said.
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