Trump Administration Removes Deportation Protection for 348,000 Venezuelans

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies during her confirmation hearing in Washington on Jan. 17, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is removing protections against deportation for some Venezuelans in the United States, according to a newly released government notice.

“[Noem] has determined it is contrary to the national interest to permit the covered Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States,” reads the notice, which is scheduled to be formally published.

The status removal pertains to approximately 348,202 Venezuelan nationals who were granted protection in 2023 by then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas under the Biden administration.

Mayorkas said at the time that there were “extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent individuals from safely returning” to their home country.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a program that allows people from certain countries to legally stay in the United States for a period of time declared by the head of the Department of Homeland Security if that person finds there are temporary and extraordinary conditions that prevent the people from returning to their countries safely.

Mayorkas’s declaration was set to expire on April 2, but Noem reviewed the matter and found that Venezuela “no longer continues to meet the conditions for the 2023 designation,” the new notice states.

Specifically, officials found that there have been “notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime that allow for these nationals to be safely returned to their home country,” it states.

Even if the conditions were still temporary and extraordinary, termination of the designation is required because keeping the protection in place runs counter to the national interest, according to the notice.

The law that grants the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security the ability to issue the protection also forbids the designation or extension of the protection if the secretary finds that doing so would be “contrary to the national interest of the United States.”

Officials pointed to how some Venezuelan nationals who have crossed into the United States since 2023 are members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which President Donald Trump has designated as a terrorist organization. Trump, over the weekend, said Venezuela had agreed to take back all Venezuelans who are illegally in the United States, including members of Tren de Aragua.

The protection will be terminated 60 days from when the notice is published.

Some 600,000 Venezuelans currently have Temporary Protected Status, the U.S. government stated in January. About 350,000 Venezuelans will remain protected until September, when their protection is due to expire. A decision on that subset is required by July 12.

The number of foreigners overall protected under the program skyrocketed to nearly 1.1 million by the end of fiscal year 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The Biden administration saw the program as a way to keep immigrants in the country while urging Congress to fix what officials described as a broken immigration system.

Noem previously canceled an 18-month extension of the protection for the Venezuelans, saying it would give officials time to evaluate the situation. A separate notice explaining that move states that the extension did not explain how it was consistent with the Immigration and Nationality Act, the law that outlines the requirements for TPS.

Trump, in an executive order issued shortly after taking office, directed officials to make sure TPS designations were consistent with the law and “are appropriately limited in scope and made for only so long as may be necessary to fulfill the textual requirements of that statute.” The new notice quotes that order.

Some have criticized ending the protection for Venezuelans.

“TPS recipients from Venezuela shouldn’t be forced back to extremely dangerous conditions,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) wrote in a social media statement on Feb. 3. “Nothing about the brutal communist regime has changed since 2023, and taking away these protections for hardworking immigrant families doesn’t make our country any safer.”

Others, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform, have supported Noem’s moves. The federation stated that TPS has “been turned into a back-door amnesty program that shields illegal aliens from deportation for years–regardless of the situation in the aliens’ home countries.”