Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration has reversed a policy that would have provided protection from deportation for about 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States. Speaking on “Fox and Friends,” Noem indicated that her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, had signed an order just before leaving office that would have allowed Venezuelans to stay under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for an additional 18 months.
Noem criticized this decision, stating, “Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months they were going to extend this protection to people that are on temporary protected status, which meant that they were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months. We stopped that.”
The new policy takes effect immediately, reverting the TPS expiration date for Venezuelans back to April 2025, instead of the extended date of October 2026 that the Biden administration had put in place.
In addition to Venezuelans, the previous administration had also extended protections for more than 230,000 Salvadorans, 103,000 Ukrainians, and 1,900 Sudanese residents. However, Noem did not address the status of these other groups in her comments, focusing solely on Venezuelans.
While TPS allows these individuals to live and work legally in the U.S., it does not lead to citizenship. There is concern among critics that the renewals of TPS become almost automatic over time, regardless of conditions in their home countries.
The announcement was first reported by The New York Times. Under the new rules, Venezuelans who previously held TPS could now face deportation, although deportation options are limited due to the lack of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Venezuela. Notably, other countries, including Cuba and Nicaragua, also do not accept deportees, but Noem expressed confidence that President Trump would use his authority to ensure these countries take back their nationals.
TPS was established by Congress in 1990 to help individuals from countries experiencing natural disasters or civil unrest. Currently, about one million immigrants from 17 different countries benefit from this program.
As the Trump administration re-evaluates TPS, its future remains uncertain. During his first term, Trump sought to limit the use of this program significantly, and while existing regulations allow for early termination of TPS extensions, this action has rarely been taken in practice.
